


Go and Conquer

by TaurusPixie



Category: Hellsing
Genre: Angst, Battle, Blood, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Drama, F/M, Fantasy, Fights, Friendship, Gore, Graphic Violence, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Lore Exploration, Losing sanity, Love/Hate, Mental Instability, Possessive Behavior, Post-Canon, Power Struggle, Romance, Romantic Tension, Sexual Assault, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Sexual Violence, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Some Fluff, Strong Language, Training, Vampires, outcast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:15:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27632609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaurusPixie/pseuds/TaurusPixie
Summary: Cast out by her master, Seras must try and make a new life for herself, despite knowing so little about the vampire way of life. But when a small coven takes her in, Seras finally begins to fully realise her true potential, falling more and more into the insanity of the vampire world. Meanwhile, Hellsing sends in Alucard to deal with this new and emerging threat...
Relationships: Alucard/Seras Victoria
Comments: 19
Kudos: 66
Collections: Absolutely favorite works





	1. Starvation

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to one of my first Hellsing fics! This is also posted on my FanFiction.net profile if this seems familiar to you. I thought I'd post in on here as well, especially since there may be some explicit scenes that might get me into trouble on that website. So yeah, heed the tags. Because this is my first Hellsing fic (and because Alucard is so damn difficult of a character to write) the characters might come across a bit OOC sometimes, but I'll try my best. This story is kind of a mixture between the manga, anime and OVA. However, I intend to more closely follow the manga and OVA. I hope you enjoy the story!

Shrill shrieks and snarls filled the air before the sound of a large crash echoed between the narrow streets. Garbage cans clattered against the cobbled ground, rolling into the more open yet deserted streets. Streetlamps provided the only source of light as the moon remained hidden behind a thick blanket of cloud, almost as if the earth was being suffocated on this humid night. The air had an orange glow as the lights reflected off of the individual droplets in the air, all of which could be seen in great detail by the wide crimson eyes of their holder.

Yelping again, Seras darted out from the alleyway that smelled – oh so tempting – of human blood. It assaulted her senses and almost sent her into a bloodthirsty craze right there and then. But she held it back. Held it back in fear of her life. That took priority right now, not feeding. Why did she have to go and starve herself for so long? It was so stupid of her… A mistake that her mast –

She quickly stopped those thoughts in their tracks right when a dark shadow with sharp claws swiped at her, narrowly missing her face as it cut some of her platinum blonde hair off with it. Great, now her bangs were going to be uneven, and she wasn't even sure how to properly magically change her appearance yet. She had managed to grow and regenerate her arm and eyes back, but that was it.

Without having the time to dwell on that, Seras fled as fast as her legs could carry her, the world beginning to blur around her. She could hear loud footsteps running after her from behind, and Seras pushed herself further, her limbs burning in protest from the lack of nourishment. It was almost as if her body was drying out in the middle of a hot desert and soon she would be nothing but ashes. The thirst was killing her, even more so now that she had almost tasted the sweet nectar right before she had been interrupted by an older and much more powerful vampire.

"Just because you're a draculina doesn't mean you have the right to infringe on _my_ territory!" the voice of the female vampire screamed behind her.

Seras rolled her eyes as she ran. Why did everything think she did this kind of thing on purpose? All she had wanted was something to eat. How was she supposed to know she was in another vampire's territory? Hell, she didn't even know vampire territories were a thing until she had fled to the continent. She had never been taught any of this! She was a vampire yet she didn't know how to truly be one. This world was still so foreign to her. She was so young and naïve. She _hated_ it.

The draculina didn't dare argue back though, too terrified in case this other vampire took it as a challenge.

_Draculina._

Oh how she hated that label.

Before she had worn it with pride, but now it felt like nothing more than a curse.

She had long since hoped that his scent and presence on her would have faded by now. For the most part, it had. But the older and more experienced vampires could still sense it. It tainted her. It marked her as a threat that needed to be disposed of immediately. It immediately challenged their powers and dominance over a certain area. Or some just wanted the kick of overpowering a draculina, especially knowing that there would be very little consequences for their actions.

Seras had learned that they had all heard the rumours. That the vampire king was now enslaved with a British secret agency. That was all they needed to know to give them total and complete free reign. Anarchy in the vampire world had ensued, everyone fighting for the top spot. Seras knew to stay out of these wars, but now, as probably one of his last surviving fledglings in the world, that put a massive target on her head. Which was just _great…_

However, her thoughts were interrupted by the female vampire leaping ahead of her and landing in front of her, baring her sharp teeth as Seras clumsily skidded to a halt, her limbs flailing as she did so.

"Look, I don't want any trouble," Seras tried to keep the fear from her voice as she spoke. She had never really had to fight a full, older vampire before. Ghouls and freaks she could deal with, along with younger vampires, but not this…

"Now what's a little draculina doing so far from its nest anyway?" The female vampire ignored Seras' pleading.

"I said I don't want any trouble," Seras repeated, more firm this time, using her police training despite all of that feeling like a lifetime ago now, her human memories almost having completely faded.

"Unless you were cast out…?" The female vampire let out a low chuckle.

Seras narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips into a tight thin line. This vampire really had to go there, didn't she? It only reminded Seras, as she gazed at the superior vampire, of how inadequate she was. The vampire before her was everything Seras wished that she was. Beautiful, sexy, powerful, smart… Her long red hair stuck to her skin where the blood of her kill stained her skin. Her red eyes flashed like warning lights to Seras, and her black cocktail dress clung to every curve of her body.

"Oh just piss off!" Seras yelled in her thick cockney accent before she had the chance to stop herself.

"Temper temper. Is that any way to address your elders?" the other vampire mocked. "Did your master neglect to teach you some manners?"

Seras merely growled in response, feeling herself automatically and instinctively bowing her head in acknowledgement of the superior vampire before her. Despite knowing very little about the vampire world, Seras would occasionally have an innate sense of them. Vampires respected age and power. That was why her master was the most respected and feared of all. Alucard… Vlad… Dracula… whatever he wanted to call himself in one particular moment.

Thinking of him sent a sharp stab of pain through her chest as if her whole body had been sliced in half. It was because of him that she was in this situation right now. Had this been his plan all along? Had he cast her out instead of killing her himself, knowing that the rest of the vampires in the world would do his dirty work for him?

Seras could feel her eyes filling with bloody tears but she fought them back. She couldn't afford to lose any more blood. Not even if it meant gaining satisfaction in sinking her nails and teeth into the vampire before her who dared bring up the one creature she couldn't bear to think about.

Before the memories could begin to incapacitate her, Seras spoke up again. "I just want to be left alone. I didn't know this was your territory."

"My my, still so much to learn," the other vampire tutted as she placed a thoughtful finger on her chin, looking at Seras almost as if she felt sorry for her. "I'm surprised you've managed to survive on your own for this long."

To be honest, so was Seras.

"What is your name, draculina?" the female vampire asked, startling Seras.

She stared at the vampire before her with wide eyes. No one had cared to ask for her name before. Even her comrades back in the Hellsing organisation had never cared much for it. Always choosing to give her their own stupid nicknames, and of course there was always the one nickname she hated over all of them: _Police Girl._ Though Kitten probably came a close second.

For the briefest second, she had almost stated her name to be _Police Girl_ before she managed to stop herself. It had been so long since anyone had used her name, not even herself in the long lonely years she had been spending in exile. The last person to have called her by her real name was… was… _him._

The other vampire growled at Seras' silence. "Answer me!"

Seras grunted under the force of an elder's command. It felt almost like treason not to answer. Her undead heart squeezed itself in fear like a snake had coiled itself around it. Seras gritted her teeth, but soon, she had to answer.

"Seras Victoria."

"Then leave at once Seras Victoria. You are not worth my time and energy. You are so young and inexperienced that fighting you would be no fun at all. But come into my territory again, and I will not be inclined to show such mercy," the vampire's word was final.

"Yes, miss," Seras squeaked as she couldn't help but let out a puff of air in relief.

But there was no time to hang around and thank the vampire for sparing her life. Such a thing was a rarity and Seras definitely did not want to push her luck any further tonight. So without giving the red haired vampire another glance, Seras fled again, this time, much to her relief, without the sound of footsteps chasing her.

The world around her blurred by as her vision turned red with her tears. She had such a lucky escape there. But how much longer could her luck hold out? How much time had even passed since her exile? She had been too catatonic with shock, too preoccupied with survival, to keep track. Just like she always did when she was scared, her mind instinctively reached out for her master. But there was nothing there. She was all alone. Scared, lost and alone in a world to which she did not belong. She had been looked after and coddled in the Hellsing organisation, but now she had been thrown into the deep end.

It wasn't long before her limbs began protesting too much for her to continue, and Seras stumbled, yelping as she fell down a large embankment, dirt, leaves and twigs sticking to her skin and hair in the process. Her body finally came to a sudden stop as it slammed against a large tree trunk. The tree creaked under the force before its bark snapped and the tree came crashing down.

All Seras could do was groan and lie there, unsure of the point of even getting up. There was still no sign of pursuit behind her, and her weak, young senses could just about tell that there was no one around her for miles. She wasn't sure how far she had run, but she was definitely far from civilisation right now. The cobbled streets beneath her had been replaced with thick mud and weeds. Nettles had wrapped themselves around her legs, but her inhuman body could now no longer feel their sting.

Finally pushing herself up into a sitting position and resting her back against the now snapped giant tree trunk, Seras inspected her surroundings. A maze of trees surrounded her for miles, making the world even darker as the thick canopy above her shielded her from the sky. She guessed that was a good thing in case the sun was going to decide to rise any time soon. She took a deep breath in through her nose and the scent of damp wood, mud and rain filled her. No sign of any threats. Animals had fled at the feel of her very presence. She was all alone.

Sighing, Seras then turned her attention towards herself and groaned. She was covered almost from head to toe in mud. Her jeans had ripped, exposing some parts of her legs. Her hair had become even more tangled and caked in dirt than it already had been. Her plain white t-shirt had also been ripped and torn by her fall, even exposing part of her breast in one part.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Seras found herself crying out into the dense forest.

Now what was she going to do? She would have to steal some new clothes she supposed. But she always hated doing stuff like that. When human, she had battled so hard to keep law and order that doing things like stealing and killing still created an uncomfortable knot of guilt in her stomach. She tried her best to avoid stealing, only taking things when it was absolutely necessary, such as when she had wanted to dispose of her Hellsing uniform. She only killed and drank when she was on the brink of starvation, and only killed those she would have arrested long ago as a human. Men stalking women in the night, those that hurt others for a thrill, and those who did nothing but corrupt society.

Of course that logic had its downside. It meant she would often go for weeks on end without feeding. It left her weak and vulnerable, and when everyone in the world was out to kill you, it certainly wasn't ideal to say the least. It dulled her powers – the ones she had learned to use at least. She put herself at risk of going into a blood rage.

Thinking about blood was a mistake.

Seras wasn't sure if she had ever felt so hungry. It was like her veins and arteries were on fire. In hopes of easing the pain, the draculina curled herself into a ball, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. Water dripped down from the leaves above her, scalding her burning flesh. It was almost as if she was feverish. She could just hear her master's voice in her head right now, growling at her, ordering her to give into her true nature and feed.

 _I want to, master,_ she replied to the imaginary version of him in her head, _but I can't._

His red eyes would glower at her, and he would reprimand her for her attitude.

Everything was so much easier back when she was living at the Hellsing manor. She could have access to blood-bags and she always had her master to reassure her when she was struggling with her bloodlust. Fuck, even Integra encouraged her to feed properly, much to the draculina's surprise. Every now and then, she would prick her finger when Seras had been feeling stubborn and conflicted.

 _No!_ Seras quickly interrupted her own thoughts. Think of anything but blood. Think of anything but blood. _Think of anything but blood!_

Seras whimpered in pain. Even if she wanted to feed, she couldn't because often another vampire would interrupt her. Like what had happened tonight. She was always in somebody else's territory. Seras was even beginning to wonder if the other vampires were just making this whole concept of 'territory' up just so that they could bully her and conspire against her. They always laughed at her innocence and naivety, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine them doing something like this.

Now where was she supposed to go? She couldn't stay here. She wasn't even sure where _here_ was. The last time she had managed to determine her location was a few days ago when she had crossed the border into Austria. Was she still in Austria? It seemed unlikely. Slovenia maybe? Czechia?

She supposed it didn't matter as long as she wasn't in the three locations she knew to stay away from. She may know little about the supernatural world, but since she had been exiled, she knew that if she was going to survive and make it out here in the wild, there were three places she needed to stay away from: Italy, Romania and most important of all, the British Isles.

She really didn't fancy her chances against the Vatican, even if Anderson was now gone. There could be plenty more of him where he came from. Romania was the ancient vampire stronghold. All the top vampires hung around that area, even after Alucard had disappeared. His castles still very much remained occupied, and Seras would no doubt be slaughtered on sight for being a draculina. They would think she had come to take her master's place on the throne of the vampire world. That was far from what Seras wanted.

Then there was the British Isles. There was no way she was taking her chances there.

Her master had vowed to her that if he ever caught even her scent nearby again, he wouldn't hesitate to tear her to shreds. Those cold words practically did that very action to her right there and then.

How had Integra felt about this whole thing? Integra was her friend, right? She had always come to her defence when he master had gotten overly mad about something she had done. They had been through so much together. They had waited all of those long years Alucard was gone. Seras had done everything she could to protect her master's master, knowing that it was what he would have wanted. If he was bound to the Hellsing organisation, then so too was she.

Integra had become almost like an older sister figure in Seras' eyes. She had taken Seras in when she had been turned into a vampire, she had helped train her and adjust to her new life. She provided food and shelter for her. They had held and consoled each other after the battle with Millennium, and together, they had never lost faith that Alucard would return. Every day she had asked Seras if there was any sign of him. In the meantime, they had played games together and teased each other as the days dragged by.

Seras really did miss Integra sometimes, despite the woman's cold and professional outside exterior. Surely Integra couldn't have been happy about this? Why had there been no Hellsing search party for her? Surely it was better to keep a vampire like her where they could watch her rather than letting her loose like this? Did they care so little for her? Was she really that much of a pathetic vampire that they didn't see her as a threat at all? None of this made any sense. Integra could have just ordered Alucard to come and find her. To bring her back home.

_Home._

She had no home anymore.

Home was where her master was, just like it was for any fledgling. She loved him. She adored him. He was her world. He was her everything. She would have done _anything_ for him. Everything else came second to her master. Her only goal, her only purpose, was to please him.

But not anymore.

Seras had to learn to be on her own. She had to learn how to take care of herself and survive in this world.

Blood tears once again trickled down her cheeks and Seras moved her wrist up to wipe them away. She stared down at the dark crimson smears on her pale skin before moving her mouth down to delicately lap the blood up. It sent shivers of pleasure coursing through her whole body and Seras could feel herself beginning to lose control.

Without thinking, she pierced her teeth through her own skin, drinking hungrily from herself. But it was no use. She was only putting what little blood she had back in her body. It wasn't anything new to revive her energy and quench her thirst. It wasn't enough. She needed a fresh source.

Pulling her lips back with a gasp, Seras just knew that she needed to find food and soon. She could feel her sanity slipping. Losing control of herself was always one of her biggest fears. It was why she fought so hard against many of her natural animalistic urges as a vampire, whether carnal, hunting, killing and feeding. It was the stupid reason why she had remained a virgin for so long. She already had more important things to concentrate on and she couldn't lose control or focus on that.

Fear helped snap Seras back into reality and she forced herself to stand back up, despite the aching pains throughout her body. _Blood. She needed blood._ But there was no source nearby.

She figured if she was going to feed, she would need to try and stay away from more populated areas. That was where most vampires tended to claim where their 'territory' was. Seras found herself rolling her eyes at the thought again. It reminded her of having to deal with wannabe gangsters back in her days as a police officer. It was one of the most stupid and primitive attitudes she had ever encountered.

She needed to push herself forward. She needed food before it was too late. Despite the pain, she was unlikely to find it by just sitting still for the rest of the night. She had until the sun rose. Even then, she would need to find a place to shelter for the day, preferably in a coffin.

So she pressed onwards, jogging through the terrain before coming across a small river. She knew that if she followed it, she would have to encounter some humans eventually. The sound of the running water helped calm her down somewhat. She tried to focus on that instead of the extreme hunger that burned her entire body.

_One step forward… Two steps forward… Three steps forward… Four steps forward…_

It felt like she had been travelling for hours.

_Five hundred and twenty three steps forward…_

The sound of laughter filled the early night air and the forest was now beginning to thin out slightly. Small dirt paths were becoming visible on the ground, and the smell of a campfire filled the young vampire's nose. But she was more interested in the smell that hit her next. Blood. _Blood!_ So much of it too. Each had its own slightly unique fragrance to it, and she could feel her fangs painfully elongating at the irresistible smell.

This time, no one would stop her.

She would tear apart anyone who dared try.

"Hey, look over there!" a male voice called, and immediately the laughter of the others died down.

All five men turned around to look at Seras who concealed most of herself in darkness. Her whole body felt like it was pulsating. The sheer _need_ was taking full control of her. She licked her lips. So they spoke English. Tourists on a camping trip around Europe perhaps? She couldn't pin-point their accent though. She didn't care. They wouldn't exist for much longer…

"Hey, Halloween isn't for another few months, sweetheart," one of them commented, causing the rest to start laughing again.

"Is this some sort of practical joke?" one asked.

"What's someone as sexy and gorgeous as you doing in the middle of the woods at 2am anyway?" another asked.

Seras said nothing, feeling herself beginning to lose control no matter how much she tried to fight it.

One of them nudged another, pointing at her ripped shirt.

"Hey, why don't you take that shirt off all the way?"

The roar of laughter began again.

"Come on, show us those titties!" one of them cheered followed by the cheers of the rest of them.

_SNAP._

All control was lost.

Seras' chest heaved before letting out a loud and animalistic growl, startling the men who snapped out of their confident state. She caught the scent of alcohol in their blood, but no matter. The alcohol in their system would just make killing them all the more easier. Her body burned and she lunged forward, desperate for at least a taste of their blood.

The men screamed upon seeing her red eyes beginning to glow and her now bared fangs. They tried to flee, but Seras was too fast for them, completely consumed by bloodlust. She easily tore through one of their necks, biting into the flesh like a lifeline. Blood squirted everywhere as she pierced his jugular vein and the man let out a gurgling noise as his thrashing ceased.

The taste was indescribable. The hint of alcohol didn't matter. Waves of pleasure rolled across Seras' body as she further clung to his body, sucking against his neck desperately. A lot of it dribbled and oozed down onto her clothes and the ground, but that didn't matter. She could lap up all of her leftovers later. The fresh source was much more important and delectable.

But it wasn't enough, Seras thought as she pushed his now dead body off of her.

_More…_

_She needed more…!_

_So much more!_

Her red eyes turned back to the fleeing men who were now further away, all having left their friend behind as their screams continued to echo into the night. Meanwhile Seras smiled a sinister grin as she watched her prey try to flee from her before she began to walk after them, licking the rest of the sweet blood from her lips.


	2. Forest of Flesh

" _Look, master! Look how large the moon is tonight!" Seras cried out happily, excited to see the super moon that had been predicted for tonight._

_This would be the first one she had seen in a long time, especially since Integra wouldn't let her to see the previous one so many years ago. She had gotten into trouble for going too far in teasing the leader of the Hellsing organisation and so was confined to the dungeons – after having an ash tray lodged into her head of course. Seras still chuckled at the memory._

_But now her master was back, so that would make this even more special. It had been a few months now since her master had returned after being… incapacitated. He didn't really like to talk about it, remaining almost completely silent like he always did regarding things concerning the past. Seras didn't press for details. He was back now and that was all that mattered._

_She tried to give him his space, but she always just couldn't resist hanging around him. It had been over thirty years since she had last seen him after all. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind. He just let her tag along, staying quiet as Seras chatted away about everything and nothing._

_Tonight they had both been permitted to walk around the grounds of the estate, which especially had excited Seras. She would get to see the super moon after all. Her master hadn't been as interested in it, having seen the phenomena a thousand times before at this point. But he humoured her, walking a few paces behind Seras as she raced on ahead to find a clearing in the trees by a small fountain so she could see it better._

_Despite her master's apathy, she couldn't contain her own excitement, seeing it with her vampire eyes for the first time. She clasped her hands together in wonder, her master having helped her fully regenerate her arm properly. It felt good to have it back. While she had learned to control her shadow arm, it felt great to look almost normal again. Having fingers again certainly helped with her everyday life._

" _I bet you've seen the moon like this so many times now," Seras laughed, voicing her earlier thoughts._

_Alucard glanced up at the moon briefly before his eyes turned back to his fledgling. "Indeed."_

" _Integra wouldn't let me see it last time," Seras sighed out regretfully._

" _Oh?"_

" _Yeah. It was one of those days where she had asked if I could sense you coming back yet, and I had teased her over the fact that she obviously cares for you," Seras giggled, though she quickly stopped, wondering how her master was going to react to that._

_He merely smirked. "She was just worried about her arse being left unprotected by me."_

" _That's not true," Seras argued. "She missed you. We all did."_

" _You think too highly of everyone, Police Girl."_

_Seras frowned not only at the nickname, but at his typical negative and cynical attitude._

" _Maybe you just don't like to admit that people care about you." Seras crossed her arms stubbornly, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips._

_Alucard was never any good at this kind of stuff. Whenever she had tackled him into an embrace, he never seemed to know what to do with his arms, often choosing to pat her head and stroke her hair in return. He was convinced that he was a monster and that everyone was out to get him._

" _I know that_ you _care about me." His smirk widened._

" _Of course I do!" Seras bounced up and down at the acknowledgement. "I love you!"_

" _Vampires don't love that way, Police Girl," her master patiently reminded her again just like the other times she had let those words slip around him. He placed his hands in his pockets, looking up at the moon again._

_Seras sighed as she watched her master, the moonlight gleaming off his impossibly pale skin. She hated it when he did that. Of course vampires loved! She felt it herself every day. She loved her master. She loved Integra. She had loved Pip. She deeply cared about all of them. How could that not be love? It left her feeling rather disgruntled._

" _According to you," Seras huffed out before she could stop herself. She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, briefly glancing up at her master in alarm._

_He merely laughed in response. "Yes, according to me. What I say is law and is always so."_

" _Yes, master, sir." Seras bowed her head. "If vampires don't love, then what do they feel?" she then asked, curious as to what her master's answer to that would be._

_Alucard remained silent for a few seconds after he had turned to stare back at her. She couldn't read his expression like usual, and she certainly couldn't read his eyes for they were covered by his typical orange glasses. She felt slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, almost as if she had just said the most stupid thing possible. Perhaps she had. She was still new to all of this vampire stuff, especially since her master had been gone for over thirty years of her new life._

" _You'll figure it all out one day," finally came his answer._

_Seras huffed again. "I'm not a child you know, I can handle it."_

" _And I'm not here to spoon-feed you, Police Girl, there are some things in this life that you need to find and figure out on your own. I can't always be by your side to give you all of the answers," Alucard explained, his usual crazed smirk hiding any other emotions that Seras could hope to try and translate. "Love is a shallow and weak emotion for humans. That's all I'm going to tell you."_

" _But…" Seras tried to argue. "But I love you… and I love Integra… and Pi –"_

" _Police Girl…" Alucard warned._

" _Sorry, master, it's just –"_

" _You are to stop wasting time on this matter, do I make myself clear?" Alucard ordered, raising his voice slightly, but not enough to a point where he was shouting at her._

" _Yes, master," Seras replied in defeat._

" _You still have so much to learn. There's only so much I can teach you while I'm tied to the Hellsing organisation. There's only so much Integra will permit me to teach you," he said that last part with a hint of frustration. As if to emphasise his point, the marks on the back of his gloves glowed slightly, as if in reaction to one of his thoughts._

" _Well… Integra is getting old…" Seras said rather sadly. "And she doesn't have any children."_

_Alucard said nothing._

" _Does that mean when Integra… y'know… you'll be free?" Seras dared to ask._

_Again, Alucard said nothing._

" _Because if so, you can teach me everything then. There will be nothing left for me here too when Integra… y'know." Seras really hated these thoughts, but she had to be practical. Alucard was bound to the family line, and the family line ended with Integra. Surely that had to mean her master would finally be free?_

_Part of her was excited, but also scared of that prospect. It meant that her master would finally be completely uninhibited. She had seen him when he had been able to use his powers to their full potential back when they were fighting Millennium, and in all honesty, it had frightened her. Would she be able to do all of that one day? The very thought sent a shiver of fear down her spine. Would her master still want her around?_

" _Yes, Seras, I would still want you around," her master responded, reading her thoughts._

_Seras could feel her face growing hot slightly before she froze as she realised something. "You… you said my name again…"_

_Alucard's smirk turned into a mischievous one. "No I didn't, Police Girl."_

" _You so did! I have super vampire hearing now y'know!" Seras protested._

" _I'm not sure you're even a real vampire if you believe that you can feel things like love." He said it as if it was the most dirty word in the world._

" _You bastard," Seras growled out in annoyance as she flicked water from the fountain at her master before she realised what she was doing. However, she quickly froze once again at her actions, watching in horror as water dripped down his long red coat and through his thick black hair. His expression remained blank and Seras swore that she could hear a pin drop._

_She had gone too far. She had stupidly disrespected her master._

_Before Seras could apologise though, she could feel something snaking around her waist. She glanced down and yelped at the site of a shadowy tentacle coiling around her before it tossed her forward. In the blink of an eye, Seras found herself face first in the water fountain. The cold water soaked into her uniform and filled her lungs as she involuntarily gasped. She quickly pushed herself out of the shallow water, coughing up the water she had accidentally inhaled._

_She gazed up at her master in shock before glowering at him as he stood before her. His glasses were now gone, allowing her to see the playful glint in his eyes as he smirked down at her triumphantly._

" _Hey, no fair!" Seras yelled as she climbed back over the fountain's edge and back onto the path. Water dripped off her as she did so, and this only served to amuse her master even more._

_Seras was about scold him some more when she caught site of something out of the corner of her eye. Her red eyes locked onto the tall figure standing and watching them from one of the windows in the large manor house. The glow from the cigar was unmistakable. Integra watched the two of them with a thoughtful and calculating expression on her face, though Seras couldn't think why. Things had been so quiet lately. What did Integra have to worry about?_

_Still, Seras smiled and gave Integra an exaggerated wave, hoping that maybe she would come down and join them in this fun moment. Alucard followed her gaze, and his face remained blank and neutral as he too caught site of Integra watching them. Seras lowered her hand as she watched the two of them, both seeming to have a silent conversation with their eyes while Seras was kept out of the loop. She didn't like it. It gave her a sinking feeling._

_After what felt like an eternal standoff, Integra closed the curtains, finally blocking herself from view._

" _Is… is she okay?" Seras asked, her voice full of concern._

" _She's fine," Alucard replied flatly. "We best go back inside if we want to avoid punishment."_

_Since when did her master care about being punished? Seras couldn't help but think that to herself. He was the bad influence here, not her. He was always pushing his luck and breaking the rules, causing him to be confined to his dungeon like a naughty child. Seras was the good girl, despite her love of goofing off and playing around._

_She loved it here with her new little family, and she didn't think anything could spoil it now that her master was back._

Seras groaned as her eyes began to flutter open, only to immediately close again. It felt like her body had been hit by a one hundred ton truck. Whatever she had done last night, she definitely wouldn't be doing it again in a hurry. At least her hunger was quenched… for now. Her limbs still ached though, even though they shouldn't. She had fed. At least that was the last thing she remembered. So she shouldn't be feeling the way she did right now.

But she needed to get up. She needed to keep moving. Seras knew that she had a knack for attracting every danger and trouble within a hundred mile radius. If a powerful vampire caught her scent, she would be done for. Especially since she wasn't sure if she was in anybody's so called territory or not.

Groaning again, Seras finally forced her eyes to open, the light from the setting sun shining down next to her, slightly burning her skin from its close proximity. Luckily, something seemed to be covering her body, protecting most of her from the harmful rays. Whatever it was, it felt wet and almost slimy. Moss perhaps? Seras' last memories were of being in the middle of a forest. She must have instinctively covered herself with it before she had passed out when the sun had begun to rise.

Red filled her vision followed swiftly by the unmistakable stench of death.

Gasping, Seras quickly pushed herself up off the ground before falling backwards, landing on her butt in something else soft and squishy. It felt cold and wet against her skin, and the stench grew even stronger, almost burning her nose. That was when Seras' eyes widened.

The… the mess in front of her…

What had happened…?

_What had she done?!_

Scattered around in front of her were the remains of what, Seras presumed, were once human. Though it was almost hard to tell. The scene could put any wild animal killing to shame. Flies buzzed around her in the air as her eyes took in the scene before her, and once again, the smell of death almost made her choke. Body parts were strewn around in front of her, most of them now barely recognisable. And Seras had been laying in the middle of it all.

Blood was splattered up against the trees and rocks, though most of it stained the muddy ground beneath her. Internal organs hung from the branches, entrails dangling in front of her like sinister ropes and vines, almost as if she was in the middle of a forest made purely of human flesh. Some limbs had remained almost perfectly intact as they lay either scattered on the ground or shoved into stumps or holes in the trees. Heads were ripped from their bodies, some of their skulls caved in, spilling brain matter out. Their expressions now permanently locked in an eternal horror.

Seras looked down to see that she was covered in blood and other kinds of goo and slime that made her shiver in fear. She then screamed and launched herself into a standing position again upon realising that the soft and squishy material beneath her was a clump of human organs that had been rendered almost unrecognisable. Flies swarmed around the flesh, the humidity of the evening speeding up the decomposition and festering and unbearable stench.

If Seras still had a working heart, it surely would have stopped beating right now.

"W-what…?" Seras found herself choking out before gagging.

This was one of the worst massacres she had ever seen. Had… had _she_ done this?!

Seras couldn't remember anything. Her mind was a complete blank slate when she tried to recall any memories after drinking one of the male camper's blood. Had she fallen into a blood rage? That seemed to be the most likely explanation, but Seras had never known herself to do anything on this scale before. Their bodies had been left far too mangled to return as ghouls.

The fact that she had no memory terrified her even more. She had no idea she was capable of something so horrific, especially towards humans. These men… they had lives. Families and children perhaps. She had taken it all from them. Sure they had been drunken man-whores, but did that mean they deserved a death sentence? Seras had never robbed lives like this before. Her first taste of human blood had been willing and consensual. The blood she had managed to drink while in exile had always been hideous criminals. This… this was something else… something entirely new…

It scared her.

Blood tears burned Seras' eyes as she turned away, staring down at her hands, unable to bear the sight of the scene before her any longer. Her hands were covered in dry blood, and Seras had to resist the urge of reaching down with her tongue to lap it all up. But her insatiable thirst had almost been fully quenched, so Seras now finally had the willpower to stop herself.

Her clothes were even more ripped than they had been in the first place, as if her prey had tried to fight back. That made Seras feel all the more guilty. She had obviously toyed with her food rather than granting them the quick deaths she had always tried to ensure when feeding. Why had she gone so far? It was purely sadistic, nothing more. It was murder.

Seras squeaked at the thought, wrapping her arms tightly around her torso as if she was trying to hold herself together. This was all too much for her to handle. No doubt her master would have been proud of this and made her look upon what she had done with pride. Humans were nothing but flesh to sustain them and nothing more, even if her master did find them intriguing sometimes. But Seras couldn't… she _wouldn't…_

It was this very attitude that had caused her master to cast her aside in the first place…

Guilt was quickly replaced by anger.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU FUCKING WANTED, MASTER?!" Seras screamed into the tree canopy as she flung her arms out to the side, slowly spinning around as she showed off the scene before her. "WOULD THIS HAVE MADE YOU HAPPY?! IS THIS WHAT WOULD HAVE MADE YOU KEEP ME?!"

But there was no reply.

There was no movement, not even from any animals. They had long since fled from the presence of the monster that stood amongst its slaughter.

Seras' own head remained silent. No sign of her master at all. She had not heard his voice since she had fled. But he had to still be there, surely? No matter where Seras had been in the past, she could always hear her master's voice inside her head. But no amount of desperate searching inside herself could provide any hint of his presence. He had vanished like he had never existed in the first place. It was a very lonely feeling, especially right now when she needed something more grounded to cling onto.

Her head spun as she grabbed hold of a large branch to steady herself. The world around her was spinning and she almost felt drunk. She was alone. So very very alone. She had been alone for god knows how long at this point. Time had lost all meaning to her. Every night was now a simple fight for survival. She wasn't living anymore, she was simply existing.

Was this what it was like for other vampires out there? Did they have to learn exactly the way that she did? The vampire world truly was a survival of the fittest world. It was kill or be killed. It was so primal… so animalistic… It frightened the trace of humanity that Seras still clung to while it sent a shiver of pleasure through her vampire side. _Bring it on,_ she could hear it purr.

But Seras didn't want this. She didn't want to be part of any fighting or battles for power and dominance. It was what her vampire side hungered for, she could feel that from the very first moment she had awoken to her new life. Her master had explained that it was natural. It was the vampire way of life. They were the greatest parasites of this world. Utterly selfish creatures seeking nothing but their own desires for blood and power.

She knew covens and vampire societies existed out there, but the vampire world was still very much centred on the individual. It had always reminded Seras of the sharks and large fish she would sometimes see in zoos and aquariums. Smaller fish always followed and clung to the bigger and more powerful predators. That was what Seras assumed was what vampire society was like for those who decided to forgo a nomadic lifestyle. Was that what life had been like for her master before he was enslaved? He had been the biggest and most powerful shark of all time. How many small and insignificant fish had followed him? She supposed that everyone was small and insignificant to him. How many had he tolerated? How many had he killed on a mere whim?

Vampires didn't follow him out of a human-like sense of loyalty or duty. No. They followed him because they feared him.

A chill ran down Seras' spine at the thought.

How much longer now? How much longer could Sir Integra's weak and frail human body hold out? When the inevitable happened, would her master return to reclaim his throne? He had never discussed what he would do when his enslavement ended, always cutting off the subject when Seras had asked. All she knew was that she would follow him no matter what. He was all that she had.

Seras had even tried to bring up the subject with Integra once before, curious as to whether she had planned for such an occasion, though stupidly it had never occurred to Seras that the last person Integra would tell her plans to was the servant of the very danger her family sought to protect the world from. It had earned her a very stern look at the time. Seras had come to think of the Hellsing organisation so much like family that she often forgot the obvious boundaries that were put in place for a reason. Sir Integra was her friend, but she was also her master's master. She was the queen bee of the complicated network within Hellsing.

So Seras was completely in the dark about everything. If her master did intend to take his place as unquestioned king again, that would mean he would return to the continent. Then what? Would he come for her? Her scent and presence would be all over the place by now and Seras knew that he could easily track her down, especially since she was his fledgling. Would he kill her? He had vowed that he would if he ever saw her again. Was this all just another one of his stupid games?

Seras could feel even more fear rising within herself. She raised one of her blood stained hands even further to cover the scar of his bite on her neck – an eternal reminder of who she belonged to. The reminder and signal to everyone of who had created her. It was the very target that labelled her as a draculina.

She needed to get out of here.

With that thought, Seras fled from the bloody scene behind her. The corpses would be found eventually, either by other humans or by another vampire. Either option placed her in a danger. She had to squash her feelings of guilt for now and focus on nothing other than survival, just like she had always had to do after her exile.

Her limbs still ached, but Seras was able to ignore them much more easily now. She was stronger, faster and more powerful than she was before. Hopefully this blood would carry her through to the end of Europe, though Seras wasn't holding her breath. She needed to flee Europe. She had been stupid to stay around here in the first place. Perhaps she should flee to Asia? No that could easily be accessed on foot too. Plus that meant going through the most eastern areas of Europe – an area that was a no-go zone for her. She could hypnotise her way onto a plane and head to the Americas? Surely it would be much harder to track her down there? Another problem there was she didn't know how to hypnotise people yet. There were too many flaws in every plan that she came up with.

Seras had become so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had barely registered the sinister presence that now seemed to be tracking her down. Though her stupidity and inexperience struggled to grasp what was going on, her innate instincts finally managed to put herself on high alert. The draculina turned her thoughts away from her plans to attempting to get a sense of why she was feeling so on edge.

She kept running, closing her eyes briefly to try and open her third eye.

Someone was following her. Someone dark and powerful.

_Shit._

Seras quickened her pace, hoping that her pursuer would soon get bored and leave her alone. They must have picked her scent up somewhere and become curious. She'd had a lucky escape with an elder vampire the previous night, so she really didn't fancy her chances again tonight. Why couldn't everyone just leave her alone? Was this what her master had wanted? For her to be chased and on the run for the rest of her mortal life? Or at least until she finally succumbed to the much more powerful vampires out there.

Her chaser was getting closer. Seras could feel it. He was much faster than her. He must only be a few miles back now, and this made the young vampire panic even more. She tried to get a feel for her new enemy in the hopes of finding a weakness in time for him catching up to her. He was a male and he was older, larger, more powerful and intent on pursuing her. She could almost reach into his mind and sense the fixation. He couldn't believe the scent he was tracking…

This was a hunt.

That was all Seras needed to hear to push her body to its limits. But it wasn't enough. It only caused her to sprint a tiny bit faster. Nothing compared to the much more mature vampire. She wasn't even properly paying attention to where she was going now. Trees collapsed under the force of her sprinting past them and branches snapped off against her body. She tried weaving in and out of different areas in the hopes of causing her scent to disperse itself, but it only served in slowing her down while her hunter gained on her.

Seras' legs were about to collapse in protest before they were swept from under her instead. A loud scream erupted from her mouth before she could stop herself. She couldn't show fear. She refused. If this was her end, then she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She had defied death before and she was going to continue to mock and laugh in its face as it finally claimed her.

Her body rolled and the world around her blurred. A large boulder finally halted her movement and the rock crunched from the collision – as did most of Seras' bones. She yelped in pain as she finally came to a stop, laying on her back and staring up at the stars that were beginning to twinkle above her. She supposed there were much worse sights to see before she died.

The beautiful view, however, was swiftly cut off by a male vampire pinning her down. His face blocked her vision, and Seras glared up at her captor, hissing as he pinned her wrists above her head, preventing her from fighting back. She wiggled and wrestled against him with all her might, but she might as well be trying to fight against titanium. She was trapped.

Her captor was so much larger than her and his muscles strained against the black suit that he wore. His hair was brown and wild, curling away from his scalp like devil horns. His eyes were a dark red as he gazed down at her hungrily.

"Was haben wir hier?" The male vampire moved to pin Seras' wrists with only one hand while moving the other down to run one of his long nails along her cheek and down to her chin. "Eine Draculina schlampe."

"Let me go!" Seras growled out, still trying to thrash her way free.

"Another English one?" The male vampire spoke with a thick German accent before he laughed. "Well well, His Majesty certainly has a thing for English girls it would seem."

Seras growled again, trying to reach her legs up to kick him off her, but he pinned them down with his own.

"What a rare treasure to catch indeed," the male vampire continued speaking as he leaned down to breathe in her scent. Seras cringed away in response, but she could do nothing else as he pressed his nose against her neck before pulling back again.

"Still a virgin too…" he almost growled out. "How… _tempting…_ "

Seras froze.

"You would fetch a fine price if I was to sell you. A virgin Draculina. You must be the only one in this entire world of your kind. A very unique creature indeed. I wonder how much the other vampires of this world would be willing to pay for you," he mused, moving to stare down at her greedily. "So powerful yet still so young and weak…"

Seras began thrashing again, really not liking the way this conversation was going. She had no idea that vampires trafficked each other, but then again, she guessed that she shouldn't be surprised. There was no way in hell she was going to let that happen. She would rip them all to pieces.

"But then again…" He began thinking out loud again. "Why would I want to bypass the opportunity to indulge in something this exquisite?"

"Like hell you will!" Seras snapped back.

This only made her captor laugh. "Such fire and tenacity." He squeezed her tighter. "Now hush, girl, or I will _break you_!"

Seras gritted her teeth as she glared back at him.

"I'll just have to beat that attitude out of you. After all, your master isn't around to stake his claim, is he? At least I'm assuming that's why he created you." He grinned as he began stroking her cheek again.

Seras recoiled in horror and disgust.

"You're all on your own out here…" His fingers prodded the bite mark on her neck, causing them to burn her slightly. She gasped and her chest heaved as she once against began thrashing against him. It felt so… so… _wrong._ So _forbidden_ for him to have touched her there. It was almost as if he had reached insider her body and touched her very soul. It was invasive and her mark continued to burn, scalding her skin, protesting as it was touched by someone other than herself and its creator.

"Doesn't it just burn?" The male vampire growled pleasurably as he continued to torment her. "To be touched this way and there is nothing you or your _master_ can do about it? You fledglings are so easy to control once you know what buttons to press."

He slammed his fingers down on the bite mark again and Seras screamed. It was like a red hot poker had been pressed against her neck. Her thoughts scattered and she was rendered completely incapacitated. It felt so so so wrong. This was one of the greatest sins that anyone could commit against her. Meanwhile her captor laughed loudly as she thrashed and withered around like she was having a seizure.

"Awww, I'm sorry, does that hurt?" he mocked her with feign concern.

He pressed harder and Seras screamed again.

"Where's your master, Draculina?" he growled. "Where is his almighty majesty who could be so easily enslaved by a human? That filth is unworthy of being the vampire king. He deserves to have his fledgling defiled for having such a weakness! He can probably sense it right now. Can you hear me in there, _Dracula_?" He stared directly into Seras' eyes looking deranged. "You get to watch as I de-flower this precious little creature you created."

Seras growled before spitting in his face.

The male vampire froze, his eyes closing as Seras' saliva made contact with his face. The whole world froze, but Seras held her ground, continuing to glare up at vampire before her. Her whole body vibrated as the male vampire snarled.

"You fucking whore!" he yelled before releasing Seras from his weight, only to pick her up by her wrists, swinging her through the air before she was slammed against the boulder she had collided with earlier.

An involuntary gasp of pain was squeezed out of her when her body made contact with the boulder once again. This time the boulder shattered upon impact, sending pieces of rock flying in every direction. All of the air had been knocked out of her body and Seras definitely heard the cracks of her ribcage. Pieces of bone splintered inside her, stabbing into her internal organs and forcing her to cough up blood.

Seras wheezed and shivered from the force of the impact. It felt like a part of her ribs or spine had lodged itself into her windpipe as breathing suddenly became extremely difficult and painful. It was like someone was slicing her body in half with a hot knife every time she breathed in and out.

But before Seras had time to register what had happened or fight back, she felt another force slam against her chest, once again sending her through the air. This time she landed in a broken heap on the ground, her limbs flailing around like a rag doll after having been dislocated.

 _Come on! Heal!_ Seras pleaded with her body, terrified at the thought of being paralysed while this monster had its way with her.

The male vampire laughed as he pinned her down once again, baring his sharp teeth at her before one of his hands reached down to try and tear away at the remainder of her clothes.

"I never understood what he saw in feisty women. Too much hard work," the male mumbled before chuckling. "I'll teach you your place, bitch."

Seras managed to regain some of the movement in her arms, growling and snarling as she fought against his wandering hands that were now attempting to rip her jeans away as well. This earned another snarl from her attacker who then grabbed her by the hair before slamming her head against the ground. Her skull shattered on impact and Seras once again fell limp, fighting to stay conscious. She was losing too much blood. Her body was growing weaker and weaker… Soon she would be unable to fight him off…

There was another grunt and a growl, and suddenly it felt like the weight atop of Seras had vanished. Her whole body screamed in pain and she trembled in fear as more snarls filled the air not far from her. It sounded and felt like there was more than one powerful vampire around now. Were they fighting over her now? This was her chance to get away, but her body remained paralysed as her limbs had yet to properly heal. She needed to turn into a shadow, but she was so weak… _so weak_ …

Her eyes were beginning to close against her will.

Fear jolted through her again as she felt cold arms wrapping around her broken body, lifting her off the ground.

" _It's okay_ ," a familiar sounding female voice reassured her. " _Sleep, Seras Victoria, for no harm will come to you now."_

Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the response to the first chapter! I thought it would be a good idea to get this chapter out as soon as possible to give you a better sense of what the story is going to be like and to get things moving. I hope that you're still enjoying things and thank you for reading!


	3. A Choice Is Made

Pain.

Darkness.

Those were the only two things that Seras could sense right now. Anything else was long forgotten, buried down in the deepest places of her mind. Her whole body felt like it had been crushed and flattened. Bones felt shattered and the splinters stabbed into her muscles, causing them to seize up in agony. She felt hot – unbearably hot. Her breathing came out in shallow gasps as the air around her felt thin and void.

In her panic, her other senses began to return. She wiggled her fingers, her nails scraping along a hard surface as the rest of her body twitched. The feeling of her legs and feet returned to her, and a dull ache began to concentrate itself on her stomach. Her eyes finally fluttered open, revealing that she was lying face down on a ground that seemed to be made of varnished marble. It felt cool against her squished nose and other exposed skin. But unfortunately it did nothing to soothe the intense heat that radiated around her body, as if the core of her being was a star, pulsating with a power that was too much for her to handle.

The pains in her stomach intensified, so Seras decided to finally try and finally push herself up off the ground in the hopes of easing the pressure on her abdomen. Her limbs were shaky as she did so, and she almost fell down again. But she kept pushing herself, despite her body's protests. It was like her whole body was made of lead. That or someone had increased the forces of gravity.

Seras coughed and doubled over as another sharp pain shot through her stomach. It almost reminded her of the really bad period pains that she used to get while she was still human. An involuntary groan escaped past her lips before she finally forced herself to look up and figure out where she was now. Her memories of before she had woken up here were fuzzy at best. All she knew was that she needed to run. She needed to escape.

But escape from what?

There was no way that Seras was sticking around to find out.

Gasping in pain, the draculina opted for simply crawling forward on her hands and knees. Her head finally felt light enough to look up properly and take in her surroundings. She appeared to be in some sort of hallway. It put the grandness of the Hellsing manor to shame. However, the hallway seemed to stretch on for an eternity. There were no doors on either side, just simply one long passageway that led into darkness on either end. An occasional table or bureau decorated the sides, along with many candles that adorned the walls providing the only source of light.

The ground was some sort of grey marble with a faded dark red carpet travelling down the middle like a never ending road. The dark stone walls curved towards the top, forming arches before meeting each other on the ceiling. Each arch seemed to be adorned with intricate patterns and symbols, though most of them just looked like meaningless swirls to Seras.

She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when another sharp pain shot through her stomach. She doubled over once again, pressing against her abdomen with her hand in a feeble attempt to stop the pain in its tracks. It didn't work. Seras hadn't even realised that she had squeezed her eyes tightly shut until she opened them again, only to be met by the sight of blood dripping from her, staining the plain white dress she was wearing.

Terrified, Seras reached a hand under her dress before pressing it between her legs, the tender pain shooting through her whole body instantly. Seras yanked her hand back, pulling it out of her dress once again before staring down at her fingers in alarm. Thick blood coated her pale fingers. It oozed down into the palm of her hand and Seras could no longer control the whimper of fear that escaped her.

What was going on?

A sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and the young vampire gasped and looked back up to see a figure leaning against the pillars of one of the arches a few feet ahead of her. Seras blinked, and the figure became clearer. His red trench coat seemed to billow out in a breeze that Seras could not feel. His hands were nestled deep in his pockets and his red fedora cast most of his face in dark shadow. But Seras could still see that all too familiar smirk dancing across his lips.

"Master!" Seras cried out, reaching her blood stained hand out towards him.

Her master didn't move. Even though she couldn't see his eyes, Seras knew that they were boring directly into her own. It was always like her master could see right into her very soul. She always felt exposed when he looked at her. It was if he knew every part of her in intimate detail and there was no recess of her being that he had not touched. It sent a shiver up her spine every time.

Seras pulled her hand back slightly, confused and frightened.

The smirk never left her master's face as he slowly turned around and began walking into the darkness of the hallway, never once looking back at her.

"Master, wait!" Seras pleaded, pushing herself forward again, only for another stab of pain to halt her in her tracks. This time it was way more painful than before. So painful that Seras let out a blood-curdling scream, her hands gripping her abdomen as she felt like she was about to be torn in half. The pain came and went in waves, and whenever it subsided for a few seconds, Seras pushed herself forward again, desperate to follow her master.

Halt. Scream. Crawl forward. Halt. Scream. Crawl forward. Halt. Scream. Crawl forward.

It felt like it was never going to end.

The pain only grew more intense the further Seras pushed herself. She was beginning to feel hot blood trickling down her thighs, staining her dress even more and leaving a trail of blood behind her as she fought to continue crawling forward. It felt like her insides were being squeezed and tortured. But she had to keep going.

Why hadn't her master helped her?

She felt completely and utterly alone and abandoned. Just like that night.

Gritting her teeth, Seras tried to pick up her pace, practically dragging the lower half of her body as it became paralysed by pain. She wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to give in. More blood continued to gush out of her, making her weaker and weaker. But it was all worth it when the hallway seemed to finally open out into a much larger room – no – a great hall.

The walls appeared to stretch upwards forever, the ceilings dark and invisible as if she was staring up at the very surface of hell itself. Arched windows revealed nothing but pitch blackness outside. Seras very much felt like she was trapped in her own small corner of hell. Was that it? Was she dead? Was she in hell? Was she being tortured for choosing to turn her back on her humanity and become a creature of the night, defying the laws of nature and cheating death?

What caught Seras' attention was a large throne in the middle of all the madness. It looked to be made of gold and red velvet cushions, almost reminding the young vampire of the chair in her master's quarters back in the Hellsing manor. Only this one was much fancier and fit for a king. It sat empty, but Seras could feel the power radiating from it.

However, Seras didn't have time to gawk further as another wave of intense pain shot through her, this one being the worst one so far. She threw her head back and screamed, collapsing into a heap once again in a puddle of her own blood. Crying, Seras curled into a foetal position, her stomach still feeling like it was being ripped apart. Her whole body twitched and writhed. Blood splattered from between her legs and that's when Seras felt something move under the fabric. The pain had subsided slightly only to be replaced by a throbbing sensation rather than sharp stabs.

Seras gasped for air, uncurling herself slightly to see something crawl out from under her dress. All the female vampire could manage in response was a weak whimper, her throat constricting in fear and preventing any other sound from escaping her. She finally forced herself to glance down to where she had felt the movement, only to see…

_Herself?_

The second Seras finished crawling out from between the first ones legs who could do nothing but watch in horror. Naked and covered in blood, the other Seras continued to slither along the floor before coming to a stop next to the throne and nuzzling the leg of the occupant who Seras only now just noticed. The other Seras finally gazed back at her, her eyes wild and glowing red with a sinister smile on her face. A gloved hand reached down to pet the top of her head and she leaned into the touch.

Seras followed the arm up to see her master was the one now occupying the chair, his hand still resting on the other Seras' head as he crossed once leg over the other. He was staring at the original Seras with a look of pure disgust, to which she collapsed once again in response, staring at the two of them together, feeling very much like an unwanted outsider. Her body grew weaker to a point where she was struggling to keep her eyes open. All of her limbs ached as they lay sprawled out in her own blood.

_Click._

Seras looked back up just in time to see the barrel of her master's gun pointing towards her.

_BANG!_

Air was sucked into her lungs so rapidly that Seras almost choked. She bolted upwards, only to smack her head against something hard, knocking her back down again. The dull ache of the pain only lasted a few seconds before her body healed itself from the blow, and Seras attempted to stretch her arms out above her, only to once again be met by a hard wall.

Her eyes slowly opened, her eyelids stiff as if this was the first time she had opened them for years. She wiggled her body only for it to be met with more hard stone walls surrounding her. She was trapped in something. It didn't take long for her claustrophobia to kick in, and Seras began to gasp, unable to make heads or tails of what was going on. Where was she? What happened?

Panicking, Seras pushed her arms forward again, this time placing her hands flat on the surface. Whatever the object was that was keeping her caged gave way, much to her relief. The sound of stone scraping against stone stung the vampire's sensitive ears as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. Finally a dull light was let into Seras' prison and she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. Her head spun for a few seconds before settling, and her whole body felt stiff and heavy. The smell of dried blood and dirt assaulted her nose.

Looking up, Seras noticed that she had in fact been lying in some sort of stone tomb. It was unmarked, but grains of dirt were scattered on the stone and around it. She slowly dipped her finger into the dark flecks before bringing it up to her nose and sniffing. The smell reminded her of the wet and rainy days back in England. This was English soil. The soil of her birth.

Wiping the dirt off her hands, the draculina investigated further, positioning herself to climb out of the stone coffin only to freeze in place when she noticed that she seemed to be encased in a much larger tomb. It looked almost like a family crypt that Seras used to see in old, fancy estates and castles. A few other empty stone coffins lay beside her, and her senses told her that she was alone in the room. But she couldn't be sure. She felt so weak.

The vampire stood unsteadily on her feet, looking around some more. A few candles dimly lit the room and a few empty glass jars and bottles lay scattered on the ground by her feet. Large stone pillars held up the ceiling and there appeared to only be one dark wooden door leading in and out of the room. Some dried blood stained the stone of the ground and the coffin Seras had woken up in. A quick sniff confirmed that it was her own blood.

The smell immediately brought back memories, and Seras clutched her head as they pounded into her brain one painful punch at a time. What she had done to the campers… running for her life… being attacked… then… then… someone saved her? That had to be the case, otherwise why was Seras standing here right now? But… why would someone save her? Vampires rarely if ever cared for the fate of strangers.

Seras tried to push her senses further, but it was like trying to stretch a stubborn elastic band. It was so stiff and weak that it couldn't reach very far, snapping back to her. But if Seras had to go on instinct, she knew that at least someone had to be nearby. Someone had taken great care in ensuring her recovery from her attack. They had even gone to the trouble of using the soil of her birth. Where had they even gotten that from anyway? What did they want with her? They must want her for something if they had kept her alive.

Fear began to rise in the young vampire once again. She needed to get out of here. She needed to escape.

Taking one unsure step forward to test her legs, Seras sighed with relief when she didn't immediately collapse. She was still spooked from her weird nightmare and was worried that the pain from her dream would return any second. The draculina made her way towards the door and pressed her ear against it, listening for any signs of movement. There wasn't any.

With a suspicious frown, Seras bent down to grab on of the glass bottles from the ground before smashing it against one of the pillars, leaving the edges jagged and deadly weapons. It was better than nothing she supposed.

Seras pulled on the metallic door handle. The door was heavy but no match for her vampire strength, even in her weakened state. On the other side, she was immediately met with the sight of a stone staircase leading up. Torches were lit on either side of the door, but the rest of her surroundings were encased in darkness.

"'Guess I'm going up," Seras whispered to herself, remaining on high alert as she slowly ascended the stairs.

They were very old and worn with imprints of where people had been walking for decades, perhaps even centuries. She made sure to tread carefully, almost gliding along the steps to ensure she didn't make a single sound.

Finally she reached the top where another smaller wooden door stood closed. Her ears pricked up when she heard what sounded like hushed voices coming from the other side. She held onto the glass bottle even tighter, nearly smashing it in her own grip in the process. When she was a few metres from the door, she froze and cocked her head to try and listen to the conversation on the other side.

"You got any twos?" someone asked.

"Go fish," someone else replied.

Seras frowned. Someone was playing _Fish_ on the other side? What the fuck was going on?!

Both voices sounded male.

The first voice she had heard sighed loudly. "It's been weeks. I'm sick of guarding her."

"Hush," the other voice replied harshly. "Eva checked on her earlier and she's almost fully recovered."

"She's so pathetic. Why are we doing this?"

"Boss' orders."

"I'd much rather be doing something else with my time." The first voice let out a loud huff.

"Don't let Ana hear you say that," the other warned.

"I just hate how we're stuck on babysitting duty while she goes off and disappears."

The other male merely sighed in response.

"We should never have gotten involved in this."

"Do you like keeping your limbs attached to your body? Yes? Then shut the fuck up!"

"Ssssh the poor little draculina might hear you, remember?"

The mocking sympathy made Seras' blood boil.

Something then smashed and Seras could only guess that one of them had thrown something.

"Hey watch it! I've only just grown this eye back!" the first voice she had heard snapped.

"Keep your voice down!" the other hissed out. "We don't want to scare her if she wakes up!"

"The bitch can go rot for all I care!"

"Hold your tongue!" a familiar female voice suddenly entered the room, causing Seras to jump further back from the door. "Edmund you need to refer to her with more respect! After all, I'm sure the last thing you want to do is antagonise a draculina."

"And what exactly is His Majesty going to do about it?" Edmund sneered back.

"I wasn't referring to our lord," Ana replied darkly before chuckling.

Seras had had enough. The mention of her master was too much for her. She was getting out of here.

Screaming like a wild animal, Seras burst through the door, bottle held in front of her as she pointed it towards the three vampires in the room. It appeared to be some sort of back kitchen area filled mainly with wooden tables and chairs. The three vampires were startled slightly by Seras' sudden appearance, but otherwise remained unmoving. Seras watched them as she backed herself into a corner, still holding the broken bottle in front of her, ready to strike if they dared to come near her. She could feel dark energy swirling around her, but it was weak.

Her red eyes moved to assess the vampires in the room with her. They were the real deal, she could immediately tell. Real full vampires. She had never officially met any before unless you counted the brief encounters she had when accidentally crossing into their territory. It immediately had Seras on edge. She was outnumbered and outmatched. She could tell that these vampires were older and more experienced.

The two males remained sat down near one of the smaller wooden tables, their card game forgotten about as they lay spread out across the table in a mess. Glass pieces littered the stone tiled floor which Seras guessed was the object that had been thrown a few seconds ago. A few rays of moonlight shone into the room through the small glass windows behind her, but other than that, the room was very dark and grey.

One of the males was much larger than the other, and he almost reminded Seras of a typical lumberjack. His whole body was covered in thick brown hair, giving him a very shaggy and unkempt appearance, and his beard was long and fell down to his chest. He was dressed in simple faded light blue jeans and a cream coloured t-shirt. His red eyes stared at her, his expression neutral as he appraised her before a humorous glint appeared in his eye.

The other male, Edmund, was a lot smaller, but looked far more sophisticated. His blonde hair was more neatly groomed and brushed back away from his face. His nose was sharp, as were most of his features. His attire consisted of a white shirt covered by a white polo jumper, and smart brown trousers. His posture was stiff unlike the relaxed one of the male opposite him. He regarded Seras with a sneer before folding his arms across his chest and looking away, almost as if he was bored.

Seras' eyes then fell to the female who was stood just in front of the doorway opposite her. Her hair fell straight down to the middle of her chest and was a vivid red. She dressed in a more old-fashioned Victorian style red and black dress that she had pulled up to the middle of her lower leg for ease of movement, revealing black high heal shoes that shone in the moonlight. The bodice portion clung to her every curve and her expression remained blank as she stared back at Seras, unintimidated.

That's when Seras recognised her.

"You…" she gasped out, pointing the bottle at the female specifically.

The female – Ana – smirked in response.

"How nice for us to have crossed paths again, Seras Victoria," she chuckled. "I trust you are feeling well rested and recovered?"

She made a move towards her, but Seras backed up, holding the bottle more firmly.

"I'd stay back if I were you," Seras warned, narrowing her eyes at them.

The larger male vampire burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but it's hard to take you seriously looking like that!" He continued laughing. Even Edmund cracked a small smile, though he still refused to look at her.

Seras looked down at herself and only now just realised that she was dressed in some sort of small, blue cotton nightgown that rested just above her knees. It hung from her shoulders by thin straps, and that's when she understood exactly what the large male vampire was talking about. Here she was in a nightgown, covered in dry flakes of blood and mud, threatening a bunch of elder vampires with a broken bottle. She must look bloody ridiculous.

At that thought, Seras relaxed slightly, lowering the bottle before her eyebrows furrowed in embarrassment. She was constantly just a big joke in the vampire community. No one ever took her seriously. Then again, she never gave them much reason to.

"I like her!" the larger male vampire shouted out again. "She's funny!"

Edmund rolled his eyes.

"There's no need for bold threats, Draculina. We're not going to hurt you. You're far more valuable to us alive," the large male added, and Seras wasn't sure if that was a threat or a joke.

"I… I don't understand…" Seras almost felt dizzy with confusion.

Ana kept smirking at her, even as she began to speak. "Enchanté, little draculina. I'm Anastasia."

She held out her hand for Seras to shake. The draculina stared at it for a few seconds before slowly placing her small hand into Anastasia's much more elegant one. Anastasia shook it, but when Seras moved to pull away, she tightened her grip, preventing Seras from escaping.

"I think it's best that I speak with Seras Victoria alone." She glared towards the two men. "We have much to discuss and I want to make things as easy for her as possible."

"Yeah yeah, we can take a hint," the larger male groaned as he stood up before leaving the room, promptly followed by Edmund. The door slammed closed behind them, leaving Seras all alone with the female vampire who had threatened to kill her should they ever cross paths again. She once again tried to pull her hand out of Anastasia's grasp, but to no avail.

"Do not be afraid," Anastasia reassured.

"It's kinda hard not to be…" Seras mumbled awkwardly.

"How are you feeling?" She ignored Seras' remark.

"Ummm… okay I guess…?" Seras frowned in confusion.

Anastasia's eyes trailed over her, making Seras feel even more uncomfortable. It almost reminded Seras of an overbearing mother. Not that she would know what that felt like. She was now torn between wanting answers and wanting to get the hell out of there. She had never been around any other vampires apart from her master for such a long period of time. She didn't know what to do or what to say. But Seras figured she needed to start somewhere.

"Th-thank you," she stuttered out at last.

Anastasia raised a delicate red eyebrow.

"For saving my life," Seras clarified before looking away awkwardly again.

"That Elias is a brute," Anastasia growled out. "I wouldn't wish him on my worst enemy."

"You know him?" This shocked Seras.

Anastasia laughed. "Most of us older vampires know each other. It's a small world to us after all."

"But why?"

Anastasia stopped laughing. "Hmm?"

"Why did you save me? Especially after our previous fight?"

Anastasia was silent for a few moments, almost as if she was trying to think of the correct wording. "I suppose that after what transpired between us, I wanted to see what you would do next. It's been so long since I've been in the presence of vampire royalty. I suppose our kind can't help but be drawn to you. So I followed you. It was quite entertaining until that barbarian showed up. I must say that you were very brave yet stupid to antagonise him in such a way." There was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Well trust me, I don't go purposefully looking for trouble," Seras replied, finally managing to pull her hand back. "But I still don't understand…"

"Perhaps I just saved you for selfish reasons," Anastasia continued to explain. "Perhaps in you I see a new little project. Perhaps it's because you're a draculina and having you around will certainly make things more interesting in this boring eternity." Her red eyes once again scanned Seras.

"A project? Thanks but no thanks. I appreciate you saving me, but I really need to get out of here." Seras made to take a step towards the door.

"Where will you go?" It sounded like Anastasia was trying to hold back laughter.

"I don't know." Seras shrugged. "Anywhere but Europe."

"Why?"

"I think you know why." Seras was now beginning to grow really frustrated with this woman.

"I want to hear you say it."

"I'm scared, okay?!" Seras finally shrieked, throwing her arms out at either side.

"Of what?" Anastasia continued to press.

Seras growled lowly to herself before whispering, "my master."

Anastasia laughed again, this time sounding more maniacal. Were all vampires this crazy? Was Seras the only sane one in existence?

"Aren't we all?" She laughed again at her own joke.

"You don't understand," Seras began pleading before stopping herself. What was the point? This lady was clearly a waste of time.

"Seras Victoria…" Anastasia spoke her name as if trying to sound it out. "You truly have no idea what you are, do you?"

"A vampire?"

Anastasia laughed again. "Okay, I think I'm inclined to agree with Levi. You are rather funny."

"Stop laughing at me!" Seras demanded, feeling more and more like a circus freak every second.

Anastasia's laughing slowed to a stop before she hummed as she gazed down at Seras thoughtfully, tapping one of her fingers against her chin. "You truly are a wonderfully unique creature," she began speaking again as she slowly circled the younger vampire. "You have the power equivalent to that of a god and you don't even realise it."

"Eh?"

"Seras Victoria, you were created by Dracula himself; the vampire king; the first and most powerful of our kind. Surely you must have figured out by now that you are no ordinary vampire?" Anastasia began to explain.

"I… I…" was all Seras could stutter in response.

"I was hardly going to let you go to waste on that filth. Such beauty and uniqueness needs to be moulded by noble hands. You're a rare diamond that simply needs to be polished in order to shine. All of that power is locked inside you, almost fighting to burst out at this point. I saw it… I saw it when you tore apart those campers. We just need to be able to access it and control it," Anastasia explained.

All of this went way over Seras' head, but she tried to simplify what she had just been told as best as she could. "So I'm what… a ticking bomb?"

"A ticking _nuclear_ bomb."

Seras gulped.

"But everything will be fine, Seras Victoria, because you have me now," Anastasia got that weird glint in her eye again. She almost looked like an artist who had just been blessed by the muses.

"What are you saying?"

"I can help you. I'm placing you under my care," Anastasia declared.

"Wh-what?!" Seras gasped. "So that's why you saved me? You want to turn me into some sort of weapon?! Oh no no no no no!"

"You fear your master, right?" Anastasia questioned as she ignored Seras' protests.

Seras found herself nodding before she could stop herself.

"So wouldn't it be great if you learned how to defend yourself against him?"

"I… I don't know…"

"I hear Hellsing is old and sick. How much longer until the vampire king is free? How much longer until he is free to wreak havoc on the continent again? How long before he finds you? I've seen first-hand how he executes those who displease him. He knows the slowest ways to kill and torture anyone… he makes it last until they're begging for death… fledgling or no fledgling… His Majesty is a man of his word. There will be nowhere on this earth you can hide from him. He'll always find you –"

"Okay! Stop it!" Seras shrieked, placing her hands over her ears.

"I'm just telling you the truth, Seras Victoria," Anastasia replied innocently, her voice almost hypnotic as she folded her arms across her chest. "The choice is yours. You can run… or you can stand your ground and fight… after all, you're the only creature alive powerful enough to stand a chance against him. Don't you want to prove yourself? Show him you're not just a pathetic weakling? Get revenge on him for the way he has treated you?"

"Enough!" Seras pleaded again, unable to take much more of this. It really felt like Anastasia was trying to push every button possible, hoping that one of them was the right one.

Deep down though, she knew that Anastasia was right… She didn't want to spend the rest of her life on the run. But there was no way she could fight her master either. She didn't want revenge. Sure, he'd hurt her, but that didn't mean that she wanted to hurt him back. But… if she learnt just enough to defend herself should she ever come across him again… He wouldn't hunt her down like Anastasia had said, right? Her master had gotten rid of her because he couldn't stand her anymore. So why would he go looking for her?

Then she thought about the vampire who had attacked her – almost killed her! She never stood a chance against him. Seras was powerless. She would be dead right now if it wasn't for Anastasia. In fact, it was a miracle that Seras hadn't been killed sooner.

Seras was lost and alone. She knew so little of the vampire world. This could be her only chance to learn to use her powers properly and fight back. Then she could move on with her life. The opportunity was being offered to her on a silver platter by a senior vampire no less. A vampire that seemed determined to mould her into a fighter. Seras would be stupid to pass up on this chance, even if she didn't trust the new vampires she found herself with.

Seras took a deep breath. Her decision was made.

She looked back up at Anastasia who was watching her every move with an excited sparkle in her eye.

Seras just hoped that she didn't live to regret her next words.

"Okay. I'll do it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so lovely leaving me such nice comments and kudos! I'm glad to see people enjoying the story so far!


	4. Complete Ignorance

The silver light of the crescent moon bathed the whole chamber in a soft glow. Seras found herself unable to look away from the twinkling stars in the night sky, hoping that all of this was just a bad dream. A deep pit had formed in her stomach after she had made her decision. Something just didn't feel right, and the young vampire couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her instincts screamed at her, yet she couldn't translate what they were trying to tell her. Perhaps it was simply because she was in a strange new place full of strange new people. Yes. That had to be it. While their motives were questionable, Anastasia had promised that no harm would come to her.

Though she could always be lying.

However, if that was the case, surely they could have killed her long ago? Why bother saving her, only to then kill her themselves? Why was Anastasia so keen to help her? The red headed woman's riddled answers didn't make very much sense. Despite the pain of the memories, Seras thought back to what her master had taught her: vampires were selfish. They only did something for others if there was something in it for them. They were creatures that were the epitome of greed and desire.

Seras sighed to herself before running her hands through her blonde hair, hunching further over as she continued sitting on the edge of the large coffin that had been provided for her. It was intricately decorated with all kinds of symbols that the young vampire couldn't hope to decipher. The inside was laced with the finest red silk that was soft beneath her fingers. It sat in the middle of where one would expect a four poster bed to be, with red velvet curtains surrounding the space to aid in blocking out the light of the day. Matching curtains billowed out from the wide and open double doors that led out onto a stone balcony, providing the perfect view of the beautiful night sky.

This place was far grander than anything Seras had ever experienced. According to Anastasia, this was her room now for as long as she wanted it. She had then been abruptly left alone when Levi had arrived and whispered something into Anastasia's ear, much too low for the draculina to hear. Not that she had the energy to pay attention anyway.

Seras tore her gaze away from the stars to finally fully take in the room she had been given. It was a large circular room at the top of a tower, with dark varnished double doors that closed her off from the rest of… whatever building it was they were in. Seras still wasn't sure exactly where she was. It didn't look like the room had been used in years but it seemed to be well maintained. The floor was a grey stone predominantly covered with the softest rugs and furs. Tapestries decorated most of the stone walls. Candles hung unlit from the walls along with a chandelier that hung from the pointed ceiling.

Apart from all of that, there wasn't much furniture. There was what looked like a closet, a vanity, and a chest of drawers, all made out from the same dark, varnished wood as the doors. A chest was also pushed up against the wall and there was another smaller door that Seras had yet to explore the contents of. But she didn't dare move from this spot.

Despite the medieval richness of the room, Seras couldn't help but feel like she was a prisoner, trapped in a dark and twisted fairy tale. How had her life come to this? Never in a million years would she have guessed that she would be in this situation. Throughout her entire immortal life, Seras kept expecting to wake up back in her tiny London flat, and that all of this had just been a bad dream. She had never been shot and killed by her master. He had never turned her into a vampire. In fact, none of this stuff even existed. She would be back in boring reality, living a normal human life.

At nineteen, Seras had never really thought much of her future when she had still been human. She had just managed to start her dream career of being a police officer, following in her father's footsteps. That was the only goal that Seras had ever really set for herself in life. But she supposed she always thought that she might get married and have children one day, just like most people did. Not that she had ever really delved into the world of romance, but at the time, she figured she was still young and had plenty of years ahead of her. How wrong she had been.

But now that world only existed in some other reality. Did she regret her decision to become a vampire? She wasn't sure. A part of her always felt like she should have died that night. It seemed to be what fate had wanted. She never understood why her master had saved her. After seeing his full power, surely he could have just easily rescued her without having to shoot her? Was he just showing off? Was he bored and the whole thing was a game to him? Even Integra had been confused by his actions. But her master never gave anyone a straight answer.

The sound of a door opening behind her caused Seras to immediately leap up into defensive mode. She shot up from the edge of the coffin, bearing her teeth at the intruder as they made their way into the room. Her red eyes locked onto what looked like a young girl, possibly physically a few years younger than what Seras was. She didn't seem at all startled by Seras' reaction, almost as if she experienced this kind of thing all the time.

"I'm sorry, my lady, but I figured if I had knocked you would not have let me in," the girl spoke softly, and Seras relaxed her stance slightly, but still refused to take her eyes off the strange girl.

The girl reached into the pockets of her blue skirt, pulling out small pale sacks that were tied up with rope. Her brown eyes focused on untying the rope, and Seras took this chance to examine the new stranger. She was very small, even smaller than Seras herself; no taller than five feet at most. Her face was like a china doll, pale and a hint of rosiness to her cheeks. Her brown hair fell in soft curls down to her waist, and her dress, while pretty, did not match the glamour and prestige of Anastasia's attire. The dress was simple and blue, made from cotton with a white apron wrapped around the front. Black boots were visible just below the ankle length of the skirt.

The brown eyes confused Seras, and she tried to sniff the air as subtly as possible. She was a vampire, but a very weak one. Not a pure Nosferatu. Her bloodline was diluted, just like a lot of the vampires that Seras had fought while working for the Hellsing organisation.

"Ah-ha!" The girl cried out happily as she finally untied one of the bags. "This should help you."

She made a move towards Seras, who jumped backwards in alarm.

"What are you doing?" Seras hissed.

The girl froze, her eyes becoming apologetic when seeing the draculina's obvious fear and suspicion.

"It's okay, my lady, I'm just sprinkling your coffin with some soil of your birthplace. You're still fairly weak after your attack," the girl explained before slowly sprinkling the dirt under the red silk. "I'm glad to see that you're up on your feet again. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to wake up."

Seras shook her head, trying to clear it. She wasn't sure how much more she could handle. There were too many new faces, new voices, new sounds, sights, smells… It was overwhelming. Her eyes burned, and her fists clenched tightly at her sides. Her whole body became stiff, and the young vampire wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow her up.

"My lady, are you okay?" the girl suddenly gasped, looking like she wanted to move towards her, but also didn't want to frighten the draculina any further. Instead, her arms simply waved awkwardly at her sides, looking completely helpless. That made two of them at least.

"I… I'm fine…" Seras managed to choke back, attempting to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat.

"If I may speak plainly…?" the girl asked, and when Seras didn't answer, she spoke again anyway. "You don't look fine."

Seras blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Well let's beat you up, take you to an unknown location full of strange vampires and see how you feel."

The corner of the girl's mouth tugged slightly into a smile. "Perhaps I have been in that situation so many times now that I am almost numb to it."

Seras eyes widened. "Oh… I'm sorry… I –"

The girl giggled. "It's alright, my lady."

"No it's not!" Seras cried out, shocked at the blasé reaction and reaching the end of her tether. Was she the only sane person in this world? "Who would do such a thing to you?"

The girl shrugged. "A servant's life is never dull. I am simply a possession and prize of battle. My master or mistress is killed and I am taken by the victor. It's just how things work."

"But… that's not right…" Seras trailed off as she seriously began to question the world she had gotten herself into.

The girl tilted her head in confusion.

"Why don't you just run away?" Seras asked.

"Why would I?"

"Because you're not a piece of meat," Seras explained, "and it's not fair that you're treated like this."

The girl still looked confused. "My lady… I really don't understand what you're talking about…"

"And you don't have to call me 'my lady'!"

"Would you prefer 'your highness'?"

"What?! No! GAH!" Seras growled, growing more and more frustrated. But she felt incredibly sorry for the girl. Obviously she must have been born into servitude and did not know any other way of life. The vampire world was brutal. Seras couldn't believe that a girl as young and innocent looking as the one in front of her could be treated like this and everyone act like it was no big deal.

"I'm sorry, my lady, have I upset you?" The girl began to sound scared.

"No!" Seras quickly turned her voice into a more gentle tone. "No… I'm just… confused… Nobody has bloody explained anything to me! Nothing in this daft fucking universe makes any sense anymore! I feel like I'm going insane!"

"You're not going insane, my lady." The girl slowly came closer, still looking unsure of how best to approach the situation.

"Please stop calling me that," Seras weakly begged, fighting back tears.

"But you're my mistress, what else would I call you?"

"HOW ABOUT MY FUCKING NAME!" Seras exploded, causing the whole room to rumble and shake. The young girl in front of her dropped to the ground, shaking slightly as she moved her hands up to protect her head. Seras' breath came out in wild pants as she struggled to hold herself together. It felt like there was a violent tornado inside her skull, her thoughts spinning so fast that she couldn't grasp at any of them. All she got was brief flashes of rage, confusion and fear.

The girl squeaked slightly in fear, immediately snapping Seras out of her state.

_Oh god… What had she done? What was she becoming?!_

Seras collapsed to her knees before slowly crawling towards the girl and wrapping her arms around her. She hadn't meant to frighten her. She was just sick of the way everyone was treating her. She didn't want to be anyone's superior. She didn't want to be anybody's mistress. She just wanted to be Seras Victoria. No territory wars, no fearing for her life, no deranged master…

"I'm sorry," Seras whispered, ashamed of herself. She had no idea where all that had come from.

"Lady Anastasia warned us that you were a bomb ready to explode," the girl chuckled out, despite everything.

"It's not funny," Seras chided. "I shouldn't have exploded on you like that."

"I guess we just didn't realise how little you knew about everything. We're going to have our work cut out for us."

They both pulled away from each other.

"What do you mean?" Seras frowned, beginning to grow frustratingly confused again.

"I suppose we better start from the beginning," the girl said, smiling as she held out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you properly, my lady. I'm Eva."

Seras smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. She gratefully placed her hand in Eva's and shook it. Finally, something that felt normal. There was something soothing and calming about Eva's presence. She could very much see herself becoming close friends with the girl. She seemed really sweet and kind. She was probably the first person to actually consider Seras' own feelings in this situation and she was incredibly grateful for that. There was nothing unsettling about the girl like what she experienced with all the others she had met. The draculina supposed that this was the closest to normality she was going to get.

"I'm Seras."

Eva giggled as they both released each other, settling into a more relaxed position on the floor opposite each other. "Yes, I know that already."

Seras took a deep breath, trying not to be weirded out by that. "Where am I?" she finally asked, deciding that knowing her location would be the best place to start.

"We're just by the Hungarian and Austrian border," Eva explained. "Az ördögvár to be precise."

Seras stared at the servant girl blankly.

"A castle. You're in my mistress' castle." Eva couldn't help but laugh.

"Soooo... Anastasia is your mistress?"

Eva smiled. "That's correct. But she has many servants and thus sent me to serve you."

"But why though?"

Eva looked confused again and Seras had to try and force down her frustration. Seras was simply here to train to defend herself. She didn't need a servant, let alone _want_ one. It all felt so wrong and archaic. It had been weird even back in Hellsing when Walter had assisted her all of those years ago. But that had been slightly different. Walter wasn't _her_ servant, and they were on more equal footing: they both had masters to serve. Plus Walter was paid, and judging by what Eva had already revealed to her, it sounded like she was more of a slave than a servant.

"Because, that's what my mistress commanded?" Eva answered as best as she could. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Seras answered quickly, grabbing hold of Eva's wrist in a panic before letting go once she realised how odd her behaviour probably seemed. "I mean... you're the first... nice... person that I've encountered..."

"The others aren't that bad," Eva tried to reassure her.

"You would say that." Seras sighed, curling into a tight ball and resting her chin on her knees. More so than ever, she felt like a lost child. She had been taken in by these strange people and this place felt like an alien planet. They seemed to have so many different ways and customs. It didn't even feel like she had stepped back in time. It was more than that. These were different creatures... a species that Seras was now a part of, no matter how much she tried to cling onto her humanity. This world was so foreign to her that it might as well be an alien world.

Her master had never really delved into much detail about the vampire world. He himself hadn't been a part of it for centuries. Even after her transformation, life at Hellsing still very much felt human. She had a routine and dealt with humans on a daily basis. Here, everything was all vampire. It was dizzying. Maybe if her master had prepared her and explained things, she wouldn't be feeling so lost right now. Why hadn't he taught her about vampire culture? Was it because he assumed he would be bound to Hellsing for eternity? Did he not think it necessary? But master was such a proud vampire. The king of vampires. The oldest and most powerful of them all. It just didn't sound like him to keep Seras' heritage from her.

Whatever the case, Seras was paying the price for it.

"I know they may seem scary, but they are the nicest masters I have had in centuries," Eva continued to explain. "They're very old and very powerful; you probably just find that intimidating."

Seras sighed again. "I know so little about this world. My..." she gulped, "my master never really explained much to me. After I drank blood properly for the first time, he disappeared and I was on my own for so long. I had no teacher. Then when he returned, I don't know, it was like something had changed. He helped me with some things yes, but after a while, it was like he couldn't bear to be around me."

The young vampire wasn't sure why, but the memories of his distance tore at her heart. It was even worse than when he had vanished for all of those years. At least then, she could always sense that he would one day return. But this had been different. She hadn't known what to make of it. It was all unknown and that was what frightened her. Even Integra had been acting strange now that Seras thought about it...

_Seras curled up on the chaise lounge in the small study she liked to frequent when not helping to train the soldiers. It was a quiet evening and she was bored, so she settled for reading one of the many books in the Hellsing collection. There were so many titles that Seras had never even heard of. Most books were about the supernatural and the occult, though most of it was likely a load of rubbish. She had realised that the moment she had picked out a book about vampires and their weaknesses and saw that garlic was first on the list. Where had humans even gotten that idea from?_

_Sighing to herself, she turned her attention away from the literature she had picked up and stared into the fireplace, watching as the flames glowed and danced. It was a relaxing sight. It was homely. Smiling, Seras leaned further back into the cushions, feeling happier than she had ever felt in her entire life. Her master had returned, London was re-built, and the threats from the creatures of the night had receeded thanks to her dedication to the Hellsing organisation over the years. Hellsing and the Vatican also had a rather unsteady alliance after the battle with Millenium._

_For the first time in her life, Seras felt like she was somewhere she truly belonged. She had a sense of purpose even stronger than the one she had felt when joining the police service. She was a part of something big. She was a protector of Great Britain. Even though the supernatural world was still new and scary for her, it was also thrilling and exciting at the same time. She felt strong. She felt powerful. She felt like she was ready to take on anything that was thrown her way._

_A content feeling washed over the draculina like a warm ocean tide. She let it spill across her entire body, savouring the sensation. Her body positively glowed with it. It allowed her to continue reading with a new sense of purpose. Perhaps the more research she did, the more she could impress her master and Sir Integra. All she wanted to do was make them both proud. The determination settled in her stomach like a rock, weighing her down and forcing her to concentrate. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, and Seras would turn it into something useful._

_She flicked through a few pages to try and find something that seemed more accurate and noteworthy when she froze as something finally caught her attention. She stopped flicking through the pages and stared down at what looked like notes and scribbles written in a very elegant script. It was almost impossible to decipher, but Seras gave it her best shot, squinting to try and make out a familar pattern to the wild, cursive handwriting._

Lucy Westenra terminated.

_What?_

_There was something about that name that seemed familiar, but Seras couldn't quite put her finger on it. Why would someone make a note of something like that anyway? Whoever had written it had obviously hastingly scribbled it down – perhaps they were in a rush? What was so significant about that?_

_Seras read on, and it was almost like someone had been thinking aloud, using the book to scribble down thoughts. There were a few meaningless diagrams, and some random letters, codes and initials, all of which flew straight over Seras' head. But the young vampire found herself captivated by the mystery of it all. Some of the words of the actual text of the book had been scribbled out, only to be replaced with the elegant script of the editor._

" _Companion?" Seras read out loud, still struggling to read the handwriting. "Huh? The... the third sister remains missing?" Next to this were a list of countries, some of them ticked off while others had been left blank. Romania, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and many other European countries. It all seemed so random and nonsensical._

_In the end, Seras gave up and simply shrugged, closing the book before absentmindedly tucking it into her side for when she decided to get back up and put it back where she found it. Whoever had written those notes was probably bonkers. Most likely someone obsessed with the supernatual, and Hellsing had acquired the book in case there was any important knowledge in it. That's what Seras had managed to figure out when rumaging through the never ending collection._

_However, her thoughts were soon interupted by the sound of harsh whispers. Seras didn't move as she strained her ears to listen, her vampire hearing picking up two voices that seemed to be walking up from the far end of the corridor towards where she was nestled._

" _I mean it, Alucard, if you're hiding anything from me –!"_

" _There is nothing that you need to worry about, my master." Seras could practically hear the smirk on his face._

_Intregra grumbled, "I'm too old to be playing your games anymore."_

" _Who said I was playing a game?"_

" _Your face."_

" _This is just my normal face," Alucard protested, obviously enjoying their tiffs like he always did._

" _You forget that I can lock you up and punish you until you tell me everything I need to know," Integra threatened darkly._

_Seras frowned. This didn't sound like their typical arguments. Integra actually sounded... concerned?_

" _And I told you that there's nothing you need to know," Alucard continued, his voice sounding more and more manical and insane, which never failed to send a shiver down Seras' spine. "You should be careful with that temper of yours, my master. It can't be doing your heart much good at your age."_

_Seras nearly jumped out of her own skin at the sudden, loud sound of a gunshot that echoed around the mansion. Integra then came into view, passing by the doorway of the study where Seras had remained frozen to her seat. She was in the process of placing her gun back in her coat pocket when her icy blue eye met Seras' red ones._

" _Agent Victoria." Integra nodded in greeting before spotting the book that was tucked under Seras' arm. "What do you have there?"_

_Seras looked down at the book before bringing it back out from her side to hold casually in front of her. "Just a random book I found," she answered, "and I thought it might help me with my vampire abilities or something."_

" _Is that so?" Integra reached for the book and Seras handed it to her master's master wordlessly._

_The knight's eye scanned the cover, her face betraying no emotion at all as she kept hold of it, showing no signs of giving it back to Seras. Seras let her hand drop in response, waiting for her boss to speak again._

" _Well you'll find no such help in here," Intengra finally responded._

" _I gathered that as soon as I saw the bit about the garlic." Seras chuckled before frowning. "But Sir, what are those weird notes inside that book?"_

_Integra raised an eyebrow._

" _I couldn't understand most of them as the handwriting was too hard to read, or they were just simply meaningless notes," Seras continued to explain, hoping to probe the knight for answers._

_Integra flicked through the book before immediately closing it again. "My ancestors tended to make notes on anything they found of interest. They will be of no importance to you."_

" _Yes, sir," Seras replied in defeat._

" _Disturbing my dear fledgling's study time are we, master?" Alucard asked as he came into view, his usual amused and wicked smirk pulling up to reveal his sharp teeth. "I must say that I am impressed by your curiosity, Police Girl. I see much has changed in my time away from you."_

" _Yes, master." Seras beamed, excited that she was pleasing her master with her actions._

" _Even so," Integra interupted the two of them, "I'll be sure to oversee her education. After all –"she turned back to Alucard with a stoney expression " – we don't want her getting any silly ideas, do we?"_

_Seras watched as Alucard and Integra stared at each other in some sort of silent stand-off. Whatever argument was going on between them, it was mainly going on inside their heads, away from Seras' curious ears. What kind of silly ideas was Integra talking about? Surely if she came across anything that was incorrect, they would both steer her in the right direction? Plus she wasn't completely stupid. Sure, she was nowhere near as smart as Integra or her master, but she wasn't completely lacking in the brain department._

" _I can look after my own fledgling," Alucard finally said out loud._

" _Yes," Integra agreed, "and that's what worries me."_

_Alucard glared at his master, but otherwise said nothing else in response. Seras' eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, still completely in the dark about what was going on. Why would Alucard looking after her worry Sir Integra? They had both been acting so weird lately. It gave Seras an uneasy feeling. She knew her place, but still, that didn't stop her from feeling excluded. Was there some sort of new threat that they weren't telling her about? Still, Seras managed to keep her mouth shut, fearing both of their wraths if she questioned them._

_Then, without another word, Alucard skulked off, leaving the two women alone. Seras watched the spot where her master had once stood with confusion. There was an almost unbearable urge to follow him and take her place at his side where she always felt like she belonged, but she ignored it. He was obviously now in one of his foul moods and he was difficult to be around when he was sulking. The last thing Seras wanted to do was to make things even worse._

" _What's with him?" Seras asked, turning to look back at Integra who seemed to have been already watching her._

" _Oh, he's just mad that he can't get his own way, as per usual." Integra rolled her eye before crossing her arms over her chest, still keeping a tight hold of the book that Seras had been reading earlier._

_Seras sighed, already not looking forward to heading back downstairs later. "At least you're not the one who has to share a dungeon with him."_

_Integra's one good eye twitched._

" _What?" asked Seras._

" _Tell me Seras," Integra began as she pulled a cigar out from her pocket, lit it, and inhaled deeply before exhaling again, filling the room with smoke. This instantly had a more calming effect on the obviously stressed knight. "Does Alucard give you any trouble down there?"_

" _Ummm..." Seras was taken aback by the question. "Like what?"_

" _Does he stay away from you?"_

" _Yes, I suppose," Seras answered, unsure where Integra was going with all of this. "I mainly just hear him pacing his room, which can get a bit annoying sometimes, but that's the only way he bothers me."_

_Integra chuckled, though at what, Seras didn't know._

" _Did I say something funny?" Seras was beginning to feel incredibly self-conscious. Her cheeks flushed slightly as Integra took another puff of her cigar before she turned to leave the room, seeming satisfied that she had gotten everything that she needed from their conversation._

" _Not at all, Police Girl," Integra responded as she stopped in the doorway, keeping her back to the young vampire who watched her from behind. "You are very much an innocent spirit – completely unlike any vampire I have ever met. You would do well to cling onto that, no matter what Alucard says or does to you."_

Seras blinked the memories away as she once again forced herself to focus on the here and now. She hadn't noticed that tears had started to well up in her eyes, and as she blinked again, her vision was smeared with red. Rubbing the blood away from her eyes before Eva could notice, she cleared her throat as if trying to pretend nothing had just happened. If Eva had indeed picked up on Seras' change in mood, she didn't show it.

"I'm sure he had his reasons," Eva spoke quietly, looking around the room before her eyes finally settled back on the draculina.

Seras shrugged. "I'll never find out now anyway. He doesn't want me anymore."

Eva remained silent.

"Which is why I have to train to defend myself. I'm tired of being weak and running for my life all the time. I just want to get on with my life in peace and not have to worry about looking over my shoulder all of the time," Seras explained, standing back up to stare at the moon once again.

"Welcome to the vampire world." Eva giggled. "You'll _never_ be able to stop looking over your shoulder, no matter how much you train. You're Dracula's creation. People will either want to keep you or kill you. There's no escaping the blood that binds you to this immortal life."

Seras whimpered as she ran her hands through her hair. "Why couldn't I have been more like you? Why did I have to have been sired by the most powerful vampire in the world? Everyone thinks I'm just like him, but I'm not. I'm not some insane lunatic that enjoys torturing people. I don't want to hurt anybody, nor do I think I'm better than everybody else. I just want to be left alone."

Eva watched her sadly, and that just made Seras feel even worse. She didn't want pity. She just wanted everything to go back to normal. But which normal did she mean? To the time before she was forced to leave Hellsing? Before Millennium? Before she met her master and was turned into a vampire? Seras wasn't sure where she fit in anymore. Her whole life had been nothing but strangeness and hardship. The one constant she thought she would have in her life was now gone and blocking her out.

"My lady, we don't have to continue talking about all of this right now." Eva's voice interrupted her thoughts. "You're exhausted and still need your rest. But, forgive me for saying this, you might want to clean up first?"

Seras looked down at herself, realising that she was still in the state that she had awoken in earlier. Sure her tattered clothes had been replaced by a plain blue nightgown, but her skin was still grimey and caked in dry blood. Her hair had felt like a tangled mess when she had run her fingers through it, and her muscles were aching.

"Yeah," Seras agreed, "I'd give anything for a hot bath right now."

"As you wish, my lady." Eva curtsied before vanishing from the room in a blink of an eye.

Seras remained frozen, still hating the fact that the young girl was intent on following her orders. But right now, she couldn't bring herself to argue. Eva was probably going to be her only friend and source of help in this place, so she guessed she would just have to play along.

It seemed that Seras was going to have to be doing a lot of that if she was going to survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the new chapter. This chapter just didn't want to translate from my head into words for some reason, so I hope it doesn't feel too much lower in quality. Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments so far and for leaving kudos! It really does inspired me to keep writing! Take care!


	5. Vampire Privacy

Seras leaned back in her throne-like chair, resting one elbow against the arm rest while her hand supported her cheek, her expression one of boredom. She crossed one leg over the other, the sound of the leather boots rubbing over each other was one of the few sounds coming from the chamber. Straining her ears, she listened to the heartbeats of everyone in the building. The sound of the blood pumping through their veins made her mouth water slightly, and she swallowed, the back of her hands burning slightly as the thought of hunting crossed her mind.

She'd been sat down here for days, waiting. Always waiting. Her patience was wearing thin, but she had known from the start that this would be a very long game. But the time was drawing close – she could feel it. It caused excitement to bubble up inside her. This was the part she had been most looking forward to. How would things play out? Her fledgling had always been most unpredictable. It was what made her all the more desirable.

The intense need had only grown stronger over the decade. It burned her very core. It only served to further prove that she was the one. She had chosen wisely this time. This time, she would not make the same mistakes as she had in the past. This time, Hellsing would not get in her way. No matter how much respect she had for her master, she was still an obstacle. Her time at Hellsing had been fun, but that chapter was coming to an end. It was time for a new one to begin.

She was sad to see it end, but for the first time in centuries, she had something to look forward to. Something to fight for. Something to live for…

Sitting up straight and summoning her shadows, the small red shirt dropped in her lap and she gently took hold of it, running her gloved fingers over the fabric. It was so small in her grasp. So small and fragile. But she knew that the owner was anything but. Grinning, Seras brought the shirt closer to her face, pressing her nose against the fabric and letting the sweet scent wash over her. It had faded slightly over the years, but it was still there in all its mouth-watering potency. The rest of the blood in the building was filth compared to hers. Never had she encountered anything so exquisite.

It was almost time.

_I'll be coming for you soon, my Seras Victoria._

Seras choked as she accidentally inhaled the bath water, slipping further into the tub as she lost her balance thanks to her jolting awake. She managed to grab hold of the sides and pull herself back up, coughing up water as she did so. Memories of a strange dream were beginning to fade away, but that wasn't exactly her main concern right now. She slammed her fist against her chest in an attempt to remove the rest of the water from her lungs. Falling asleep in the bath was a pretty stupid thing to do. But it had been so warm and relaxing…

"My lady?!" a panicked shriek came from behind her, and Seras would have flushed bright red if it wasn't for the fact that she felt like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Hey! I'm not decent!" Seras yelled, hastily covering herself with her arms in embarrassment.

"Are you okay?" Eva asked, seeming unfazed by Seras' humiliation.

"I-I'm fine!" Seras spluttered. "I just accidentally fell asleep. I'm fine. I'm done now."

Eva didn't seem to take the obvious hint as she made her way over to one of the cupboards that decorated the very grand looking bathroom. Seras watched the girl with wide eyes, seriously wondering if Eva had any notion of privacy. How was Eva not embarrassed right now? This was so weird and awkward. Here Seras was lying naked in a bath and Eva was just wandering around as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Did she not see how inappropriate this was?!

"Eva!" Seras could feel her face growing hotter. "I said I'm not decent!"

Eva turned back to look at her with confused eyes as she clutched a towel in her hand. "What do you mean?"

"Ummm, hello? I'm naked!" Seras squealed, pulling her arms tighter around herself.

"Would you like me to help you get dressed in here then?" Eva asked, still seemingly not getting it.

Seras groaned, sinking further into the hot water until it reached just under her nose. It really was starting to feel like Eva came from a different planet. Clearly if she didn't see the indecency of the situation, then what was the point in arguing further? But still, there was no way that she was getting out of this bath and getting dressed in front of her new companion. No way. That was just weird. Even if Seras was super confident about her body (which she wasn't), there is no way she would be getting dressed in front of a stranger.

"Look… errr… you don't have to be in here. I can take care of myself," Seras began trying to explain as patiently as she could. Her hunger really wasn't helping her grumpiness. But she didn't want to frighten the poor girl again, so she tried her best to remain calm, no matter how embarrassed she felt right now.

Eva tilted her head to one side. "I don't understand? It's my job to look after you."

"And you're doing a great job!" Seras smiled shakily as she rose her head further out of the water. "I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me so far, but I really don't need help getting dry and getting changed. I'd like to do that myself… in privacy."

"Oh… ummm… okay?" It looked like Eva's brain had completely crashed. Regardless though, she seemed to be trying to go along with whatever Seras wanted. Had she never been told she didn't need to help before? Had she never had to serve someone who was more independent? That thought troubled Seras a lot. The young girl really seemed to know nothing other than servitude. It made Seras feel even guiltier for even remotely going along with this.

"Is privacy just not a thing for you guys?" Seras asked. Was this some new vampire thing she was going to have to get used to? The thought made her shudder.

Eva chuckled. "Of course, but not for a lady in waiting like myself. It's my job to serve your every need, no matter what. It's my job to help you wash, dress and look after yourself."

"And standing in a room with me while I'm naked doesn't bother you at all?"

Eva shook her head. "Why? Should it?"

"Yes!" Seras hissed out before she could stop herself. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Where I come from, we don't have servants and people value their privacy…"

Eva looked intrigued. "You don't have servants? How does that work?"

"People look after themselves," Seras explained. "Having servants… well… it's very old fashioned and only really rich people tend to have them."

"I suppose a lot has changed over the centuries," Eva mused. "The vampire world tends to stand still and is as it was when it all began."

"So… nothing has changed in centuries?"

"Not much, no."

How boring, Seras thought to herself. That was probably why she felt like she was living on an alien planet right now. Everyone and everything was frozen as it was centuries ago. Customs, cultures, ideas, attitudes… all of it preserved and frozen in time just like a vampire's body was. She'd often heard the expression that the past was like a different country, and now here she was, seeing it in action. It was both fascinating, confusing and frightening at the same time. Seras wished that she'd paid better attention in history class now.

"My lady, if I may, what exactly do you know about vampire culture?" Eva asked.

Seras frowned, sinking into the water again. "Nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nope."

Eva didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"I know – it's stupid," Seras sighed out.

"No, not at all!" Eva quickly reassured her. "We all started where you are right now. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Did you not understand things?"

"Of course not," Eva explained. "When I was changed, I was completely alone."

"What happened?" Seras couldn't fight off her curiosity. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine!" she quickly added.

"It's okay, my lady." Eva smiled, her eyes growing distant. "I don't remember much because it was so long ago now. I'm not sure when I was born. We peasants didn't have much of a grasp on time, and because so many people died before reaching the age of three, many didn't see fit to note down dates of birth since you were so unlikely to survive. But what I do know is that I was born in the Kingdom of Bohemia while Ferdinand I ruled."

This information didn't help a clueless Seras in the slightest.

"My parents died of the pox when I was very young and no one wanted to take me in due to the fear that I also had the disease. I finally found work on a farm where I remained until I was twelve. The master of the land had tried to marry me to another one of the servants so that we could produce children and more serfs, but I ran away. I stayed in a nearby town as a beggar for a number of years until I was attacked by a vampire and changed. He was interrupted before he could finish me off, and because I was a virgin, I became a vampire rather than a ghoul," Eva told.

"You were twelve? And they tried to make you get married?" Seras felt disgusted.

"That was pretty normal, my lady. But I didn't want that. I had watched so many other girls die giving birth that I panicked and fled. I didn't want to die like they had."

"That's awful…"

"But things got better for me after a while," Eva reassured. "I had many masters and mistresses over the years take me in; some of them kind; others… not so much. One of my best times was serving at the royal court."

Seras' eyes widened. "What? You mean…?"

Eva giggled. "Yes, I was once a servant in the king's court."

"What was he like?" Seras couldn't help but ask. She so rarely heard about her master's past, and no matter how much thinking about him pained her, she couldn't shake off her curiosity. Learning this information… knowing that Eva had once been in the presence of her master… it almost made her feel close to him again. The longing in her chest twisted itself into a large knot, almost choking her. No matter what he had done to her, she always found herself pining for him. She was pathetic.

"I didn't see him very often; he was always so busy. Then he had left to go travelling and I haven't seen him since. I worked as a lady in waiting for Anastasia, and that sometimes meant that I was in his presence."

"Anastasia was there too?"

Eva nodded. "All powerful vampires stay at the king's court at some point. The king came back very briefly after travelling, but I didn't see him. That was the night the castle was attacked and most of us were slaughtered. I only survived because I was knocked unconscious as everyone fled and went to battle. When I woke up, I was alone and all my friends were nothing but ashes. The king had disappeared. Anastasia finally found me, though she was in pretty bad shape. Luckily, I'm a very talented healer, even when it comes to vampires."

Seras eyes widened. "So you're the one who took care of me the whole time I was out cold?"

"That's right, my lady."

"Thank you…" Seras didn't really know what else to say. "I probably would have died if it wasn't for you guys."

"We're just doing our duty, my lady." Eva beamed.

"Huh?"

The bathroom door suddenly opened and Seras shrieked again, once more making sure that she covered herself. She had been so engrossed in Eva's story that she had almost forgotten where she was and what she was doing. The bright red hair immediately captured Seras' attention as she all but sank fully into the water, the woman's presence immediately having her on edge. Didn't anybody knock around here? Add that to the list under not respecting privacy.

"Ah, there you are, draculina," Anastasia spoke with a grin.

"Seras," was all she responded with. Was she going to have to go through this whole name thing again?

"Get ready, and quick." She clapped her hands. "We have much to do this night."

Then with that, the woman in red disappeared, leaving Seras and Eva alone again.

"Oh my gosh, she's right!" Eva exclaimed, walking over to Seras with a towel. "This is my fault, my lady, I am so sorry for keeping you."

The young girl reached her hand down as if trying to help Seras from the bath tub, but the blonde vampire merely flushed and took the towel out of Eva's other hand instead. She draped the towel over the top of herself as she stood up, preventing Eva from getting an eyeful. She wrapped the thick cotton tightly around herself, the chilly air almost stinging against her skin as she left the protective warmth of the bath water. Seras then shook herself slightly, using her shadows to drain the water from her skin, leaving her completely dry. A handy little trick she had managed to teach herself over the years.

Despite her nervousness and awkwardness, Seras felt brighter and better already. Her body felt fresh and new. Muscles no longer ached, and her skin no longer felt grimy with caked on mud and dry blood. The cuts on her body were healed as were her bones from her encounter with that barbaric vampire. Memories of him made her shudder both in fear and repulsion, and the scar on her neck stung slightly, a dull echo of the pain she had felt when he had touched her there.

Quickly shaking her head, Seras followed Eva back into the – her – bedroom where she was led to another set of doors that she hadn't noticed before. Eva opened them and Seras' eyes widened to see a massive walk-in wardrobe. It could have been its own room! She was speechless as she slowly stepped inside, her eyes scanning and taking everything in. A giddiness bubbled up inside her as she thought about how much she had fantasised over the years about owning something like this.

The room was circular and seemed to be an extension of the tower. Racks stretched all the way up to the ceiling, each of them holding hundreds of different fabrics, dresses, shirts, skirts… everything! A large shoe rack leaned against the far wall, appearing to contain a shoe from every era of history for every occasion. There were dark wood drawers and tables that displayed fine jewels. One individual accessory was probably worth more than Seras had ever earned in her entire duration as a police officer. Hell, even Sir Integra probably wouldn't be able to afford these items!

"It's not much, but it should be enough for the duration of your stay," Eva explained.

" _Not… much…?"_ Seras squeaked. She would probably faint if she ever saw what was classed as _'a lot'._

"Especially for someone of your status," Eva continued explaining, seemingly unaware of the currently hyperventilating vampire beside her. "Most of it is from mistress Anastasia's collection. She loves fashion and has collected all of these through the centuries so you should be able to find something to fit your taste."

"Ummm… okay…" Seras continued to squeak.

"I'll help you find something and get changed," Eva offered, but Seras quickly stopped her.

"Err no, it's okay, thanks. I can do this myself." Seras then realised that this probably wasn't enough to give herself some privacy. "Umm, maybe you should go and tell Anastasia that I'll be down in a moment?"

Eva nodded as she smiled and curtsied before leaving Seras alone once again.

Seras let out a breath that she didn't realise she was holding, grateful to be alone once again. She already liked Eva a great deal, but there was obviously some culture differences that they were going to have to work on. No more naked bath time chats. Granted that had partly been her fault, but Eva had been the one to burst in and then couldn't take the obvious hint that Seras found the situation awkward. She couldn't handle being fussed over like this. It felt weird.

Pushing that thought to one side, Seras couldn't help but let out a high pitched squeal as she ran around the closet, looking at everything. As cool and beautiful as many of these outfits were, they really weren't her style and didn't seem practical in the slightest. Some of the dresses seemed fit for a queen and the draculina couldn't bring herself to touch them with her own peasant hands. Even though she had just bathed, she felt dirty and unworthy of them. Just like how she had been afraid to touch anything when she had first been brought to Hellsing manor.

Seras really had been thrown into a different world. At that thought, she couldn't help but think about her time in the orphanage. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would be standing where she stood right now. She had never experienced riches like this in her life. Her family hadn't been poor by any means, but they were still very much working class, living in a small terraced house in relative comfort. Orphanages didn't exactly get all the funding that they needed. The nuns who had looked after them did the best they could, but Seras was always restricted to hand-me-downs that were often already worn with age, having probably already had ten owners before herself. She hadn't really minded, but she did mind when the other children at school had teased her about it. Their school uniforms were always smart and pristine while Seras' was always slightly on the scruffier side.

After leaving secondary school at sixteen, she had worked multiple jobs just to make ends meet before joining the police academy. She hadn't exactly gotten the best GCSE results, which had almost cost herself her dream career, but perhaps thanks to a little bit of nepotism due to a lot of them having known her father, they managed to squeeze her in. The starting salary of a police woman wasn't exactly the best, but Seras had been happy. Sure, she had often dreamed of luxuries like most people did, but she was content.

So this was an experience that Seras had never expected to have.

Giggling to herself, the young vampire continued to browse, though she was still mindful that Anastasia was expecting her. She wasn't exactly sure what the powerful vampire wanted to talk to her about, but Seras was sure that it was within relation to her training. Searching high and low, Seras finally stumbled across some black jeans and matched them with a white blouse and some black leather boots. Smart casual seemed to be a safe option.

Having quickly gotten dressed, Seras then left the closet, hoping that sometime soon she would have the time to explore it further. But right now she was starting to regret sending Eva away since she had no idea where to even begin looking for Anastasia. This castle was like a maze and she knew that she would end up getting lost.

Third eye it was then, Seras thought to herself as she closed her eyes in concentration. She hoped that one day she wouldn't have to focus so hard on using this power. All the other vampires seemed to use it without even thinking about it. But Seras needed to close her eyes and focus most of her energy on the task. Apart from in moments of great peril when her instincts took over.

Seras could then feel her senses beginning to expand, granting her a mental map of the castle. Different auras overwhelmed her senses, many of them of servants milling around and doing their jobs. Stronger auras pulsed out at her, almost overpowering Seras' sense of all the others in the castle. She guessed that these were Anastasia, Levi and Edmund. Their scents filled her nose, but Seras focused primarily on Anastasia and getting her rough location. She seemed to be in some sort of study, and Eva had just left the room.

Re-focusing her energy, Seras could feel her shadows pooling around her, though she was already feeling exhausted from the lack of blood in her system. But at least this method of travel would spare her the humiliation of getting lost and keeping Anastasia waiting any longer.

Seras' eyes then snapped open as the ground beneath her disappeared, a wooden floor filling her vision as it came barrelling towards her face.

"Shit! Ouch!" she cried out as her whole body slammed against the floor. What the fuck?

A chuckle then filled her ears. "Quite the unique entrance, I must say."

Seras gasped and bolted upright, sitting on the floor where she had landed. Red eyes met each other from over the desk, Anastasia's holding a glimmer of amusement while Seras no doubt looked like a deer caught in headlights. Her face was throbbing slightly from her crash landing, and the young vampire bit her lip and avoided further eye contact. She was an embarrassment to vampires and she knew it.

"And someone of your status should not sit on the floor in the presence of others," Anastasia then added, her tone growing more firm and irate.

"Yes, miss," Seras quickly managed to squeak out before sitting in the chair on the other side of the desk, clasping her hands together in her lap as she stared down at her pale, intertwined digits. She held her breath, terrified over what was coming next. If she had wanted to make a good impression, this definitely wasn't the best way to start.

However, her head quickly snapped up again when the rich, metallic scent of blood filled the air, and her nostrils flared instinctively. She swallowed as she watched Anastasia pour the life giving liquid from a bottle and into two wine glasses before pushing the second glass towards Seras. She eyed it somewhat apprehensively, despite her instincts screaming at her to gulp it all down. She couldn't smell if anything had been added to it, but she wasn't sure if she should take her chances.

Anastasia sighed impatiently. "Drink," she ordered.

Seras obediently grabbed the glass, sloshing the red liquid around slightly before slowly bringing it to her lips. The aroma was completely overpowering and the young vampire had to fight back a growl that was brewing within her chest. Her stomach and throat burned with hunger, and without another cautious thought, Seras downed the glass.

The warm liquid soothed the intense ache and desire that had now travelled around her entire body. It tasted so much better when warm compared to the cold blood she was served back in Hellsing. Part of her wondered how fresh this stuff was and where it had come from, but she pushed that thought aside for now. The less she knew, the better. Otherwise the guilt would consume her.

Anastasia poured her another glass, to which Seras quickly shook her head at the gesture.

"You've been asleep for two weeks. You need it," Anastasia flatly responded, pushing the glass towards her again before taking a small, casual sip from her own glass.

"Two weeks?!" Seras yelped, almost smashing her glass in her tight grip.

Anastasia nodded, letting out another chuckle as she pointed down to the small calendar she kept on her desk. Seras' chest then clenched tightly when she caught site of something else on the calendar.

"Wait… is that correct?" Seras pointed towards the year.

"Yes," responded Anastasia, watching the younger vampire carefully.

_23 July 2053._

She'd… she'd been gone from Hellsing… for over ten years?

How was that possible? Had she really lost track of time during her exile _that_ badly? In some ways, it felt shorter. In others, it felt like she had been aimlessly wandering for an eternity. Ten years. A whole decade had passed her by and she hadn't even noticed. A whole decade she had been on her own. A whole decade she had been without her master.

If Seras' long dead heart could have stopped again, she was sure that it would have in that moment.

"This is news to you?" Anastasia raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of blood.

"I'm sorry… I…" Seras choked out. "It just… took me off guard… that's all."

Anastasia nodded. "That can happen when a vampire is alone. Especially a fledgling. Eternity can be quite the notion to adjust to."

Seras held her breath as she placed the glass against her lips, drinking at a much more leisurely and lady-like pace. Her mind still couldn't comprehend what it had just seen. It filled her with an unbearable sorrow that she couldn't quite explain. It… hurt her. To know that she had been gone all this time and not once had anyone seemed to care. How and why had Sir Integra allowed this to happen to one of her soldiers and – dare Seras say it – her friend?

"I've drawn up a plan for your education," Anastasia interrupted Seras' thoughts. "I shall teach you how to use and control your powers, and how to hunt and feed more… discreetly."

Seras fought off tears at the memory.

"Levi will be teaching you how to fight, both defensively and offensively," the glamorous vampire continued. "He will be teaching you the art of battle, the use of weapons, as well as hand-to-hand combat."

Seras gulped. That sounded pretty intense. But she guessed this is what she signed up for.

"And finally, Edmund will oversee your cultural education."

"Huh?" Seras blinked in surprise.

"He will be teaching you all about vampire history, our customs, geography, politics and etiquette."

"Why?"

Anastasia frowned. "You are a vampire, are you not, Seras Victoria?"

"Well, yes, but –"

"So you should learn all about your heritage, don't you agree?"

"Yes, but… all I want to do is learn how to defend myself… I don't see how manners and politics are going to matter," Seras tried to explain as politely as possible. Why would all that stuff matter? She had no intentions of living among other vampires. She was just going to keep to herself for the rest of time. Besides, she was no good at politics and geography and all that rubbish. Now she had to learn it all again from scratch because she was a different species now? No thanks.

"Seras," Anastasia spoke firmly as she placed her glass down on the desk, "as I said before, I have taken guardianship over you, so you will do as you're told."

"I just don't understand why I have to learn all of that stuff, that's all," Seras replied, trying to de-escalate the situation. The last thing she wanted to do was get into a fight with whom seemed to be her only ally right now.

"You will learn these subjects and you will learn them well. You'll be surprised by what can mean the difference between life and death sometimes. Fighting is not all about using your powers and your strength. Sometimes it's about using your mind," Anastasia responded. "You are a true Nosferatu – more so than even I am. All of this will be vital to you."

Seras wasn't quite sure what Anastasia meant, but she supposed that she could go along with it if it meant that she could still learn how to defend herself. Perhaps she could get away with not paying attention during those lessons. Edmund didn't seem to like her anyway, so maybe he would be less interested in the lessons that she was. Seras guessed that she could humour Anastasia on this one. At least the older vampire seemed to be taking all of this seriously.

"So, draculina, do we have an understanding?" Anastasia smiled that calculating smile that sent a shiver down Seras' spine. There was something unhinged about the woman's red eyes that never ceased to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Yes, miss," Seras replied, not really having much choice in the matter.

"Very good," the older vampire purred. "Now that you're back on your feet, your first lesson with me will begin. We're going to go on a little outing together."

"An outing?" inquired Seras.

"Indeed. I believe it's best for you to first observe the skills you will be learning." Anastasia stood up from her chair, leaving her empty glass sat on the desk as she looked down at the draculina.

Seras followed, placing her half empty glass down, her whole body stiff and on guard.

Anastasia picked up her skirts and walked around the desk, creating a dark portal with the wave of her wrist before hooking her arm through Seras'.

"Where are we going?" the draculina asked worriedly.

"You shall see, Seras Victoria. You shall see," Anastasia replied as she pulled her new student into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thank you and welcome to all of my new readers! And thank you so much to everyone who has left a comment or kudos; it all helps and I really appreciate it. I hope that you all enjoyed this latest chapter and I'll see you all again soon. Take care out there!


	6. Breaking Point

Darkness ate at Seras' vision for the briefest of moments before she was met with an orange glow. Anastasia's grip on her hand never loosened, but the young vampire found herself glad of this fact. It was rare that Seras ever travelled this way, usually for the very reasons that had occurred earlier – she was so damn clumsy. She usually just preferred launching herself everywhere. But she didn't have too much time to dwell on that right now. Instead, her thoughts became consumed with wondering where she was and what exactly Anastasia's plan for her was.

Red eyes began to take in everything in front of her. The darkness and the assumption that she was in some sort of underground cavern comforted her vampire instincts. But at the same time, she kept herself on guard, especially when she could sense that the two of them were not alone… far from it. Powerful auras surrounded them, and Seras couldn't help but take an automatic step back, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Fear gripped her, paralysing her to the spot.

"Do not show any fear," Anastasia finally spoke, focused solely on whatever was ahead of them. "You are Draculina; you are above them. Hold your head up high and do not let them see that you are afraid."

Before Seras had a chance to process her new mentor's words, she was being pulled forward. Her eyes darted around nervously, trying to take everything in. It appeared that her assumption of an underground cavern had been correct. But just how far underground were they? The space around them seemed vast, and intricate shapes and patterns had been carved into the orange hued stone that glowed in the torch light. It almost looked like it could have been some sort of temple. Seras' breath caught in her throat at the ancient beauty of it all.

All around her, she could see tunnels or corridors that led to who knows where. Voices filled the air, echoing around them, making Seras feel like she was surrounded. _Relax Seras, just remember what Anastasia said to you,_ she thought to herself. Anastasia was her new mentor now, and the last thing that Seras wanted to do was embarrass the both of them. After all, that was what had led to all of the trouble with her master…

Gulping, Seras stiffened her posture even more before forcing her shoulders to relax. She could really sense the sheer number of powerful creatures that surrounded her now. They were all congregated within the large opening that Anastasia was leading her towards. Vampires. Lots of them. Seras didn't think she had ever been with so many of them. The atmosphere was crushing. So much power and danger all in one closed in space. It was enough to cause her to start hyperventilating.

As if sensing this, Anastasia gripped Seras' hand tighter in warning. Seras flinched, but otherwise tried to do as she was told. It was likely that the red vampire's advice was what was going to keep her alive.

The already vast cavern widened even more, looking much larger than a great cathedral. Carved into the stone were what looked like seats that raised higher and higher as the rows continued. The centre was almost completely barren apart from the sheer amount of vampires that had gathered in there, all of them conversing with each other. Seras' eyes scanned as many faces as possible. There appeared to be many vampires from different walks of life. Some looked like they had stepped straight out of a historical drama while others appeared more modern. There were so many different ethnicities and cultures all gathered together, leaving the draculina in complete shock. Vampirism almost seemed like a virus. Had it truly spread all over the world? Just how many of her kind were there?

"Actually not that many. Our numbers have dwindled severely over the years," Anastasia answered her thoughts.

Seras looked up to see that the older vampire had been watching her reaction carefully. Though she hated people invading her thoughts, Seras for once didn't mind as there was probably no way she would have been able to voice them coherently. This was all so much to take in. Her third eye could sense their powerful auras with ease. Some were older and more powerful than others, but what struck Seras the most was that they all appeared to be true blooded vampires. There was not a single freak in sight. These guys were the real deal. The true walkers of the night. They were… they were just like her…

"Not one hundred percent," Anastasia continued to reply to her thoughts, "remember what I said about you being above them."

"But I… I don't understand?"

"What's there to understand? These may be powerful vampire nobility, but _you_ are vampire royalty."

"Because of my master," Seras replied sourly.

Anastasia smirked. "In a manner of speaking."

Seras turned back towards the crowd, unable to take her eyes off them all once again. She could easily pick out the fledglings as they shadowed and followed their masters like lost puppies. Holy shit, had Seras looked that when she had been with her master? It made her feel pathetic, but through watching the others, it did seem like something that was natural. Almost like a duckling imprinting. Seeing the masters and fledglings also sent a stab of pain through her chest, akin to the blessed silver bayonets that Father Alexander had pierced through her body.

Nearly whimpering at the pain, Seras turned her attention away from them to take in more of the cavern. It reminded Seras of an old Roman colosseum.

"Wait…" Seras finally voiced her thoughts as all the pieces fell into place. "Is this place what I think it is?" She turned to gaze at Anastasia with wide eyes.

"Correct, young one, it's a fighting arena." Anastasia's smirk widened, her cheeks looking like they were about to crack like a porcelain doll from the strain. "I thought it would be wise to show you how true vampires fight against each other. It will provide you with insight into what you will be learning. Now, follow me."

Seras obeyed without a word, slowly following Anastasia towards the large crowd, some of which had already begun to seat themselves on the side-lines. The young draculina tried to remain as invisible as possible behind Anastasia as they grew closer to the others. Eyes finally began to turn towards them, some of them bowing their heads at Anastasia.

"Lady Anastasia, we weren't expecting to see you here," one of the males greeted. "Where is the rest of your coven?"

"They have some important business to attend to," was all Anastasia casually responded with while Seras remained hidden behind her.

"I see," another male replied. "Anything we should be concerned about?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, everything is all in hand. Or do you no longer trust one of the highest members of the King's council?" Her tone was ambiguous as it blurred the lines between a joke and a threat. It had many of the other vampires backing down immediately, however, their eyes darted around as they remained on edge.

"Then why do I sense something?" the first male who had spoken barked.

"It… it… it feels like the King…" a female gasped. "But that's impossible…"

Seras stiffened.

Anastasia merely chuckled. "The King remains… incapacitated."

The room visibly relaxed slightly, but many still remained confused and on edge. It caused Seras to furrow her eyebrows. What kind of a ruler was her master that most people seemed afraid of the very mention of him? Then again, Seras had seen first-hand just how scary her master could be. Though her fear of him relaxed over time and she became more comfortable around him, she was still very much aware of the invisible boundaries that commanded her respect. He was the master. She was the servant. Those were their clearly defined roles that Seras always adhered to. It was instinctual from the moment she had awoken to her new un-life.

Perhaps one day Seras would ask Anastasia about all of these weird instinctual things that seemed to come as part of a package deal when becoming a vampire.

"Now that formalities are out of the way, is tonight's event going to start any time soon?" Anastasia regained her playfulness. "After a long day of work, I could use some entertainment."

Entertainment? This was all for entertainment? This really was just like a Roman colosseum. This is what vampires… relaxed to? Honestly, Seras felt like she shouldn't be surprised at that point. Clearly, it wasn't just her master that got off on violence. It was a vampire thing. A few decades ago, Seras probably would have enjoyed all of this, but right now, she just wished that she was safely on her own somewhere and not surrounded by vampires who looked like they ate people like her for breakfast… literally.

Anastasia turned towards the seating area, finally revealing Seras to the crowd of powerful vampires. Some of their eyes widened as they froze in place, while others hissed and jumped back. Masters stood in front of fledglings, covens huddled together in defensive positions, and all the while Seras tried to remain as neutral as possible, repeating Anastasia's words over and over again in her head. _Do not show fear. Do not show fear. Do not show fear. Do not show fear._

"What's this little thing here?" one of the braver males asked. Seras turned to look at him, taking in his glowing red eyes and silver hair that was tied back into a pony tail. His features were sharp, reminding Seras of an elf, and he appeared to be dressed like an aristocrat from the eighteenth century. He leaned forward on his cane slightly, looking the young vampire up and down as if she was an exhibit in a museum.

"I knew I sensed something!" someone else whispered harshly from behind.

The entire crowd then began mumbling to each other.

"Who is she?"

"Why does she smell like the King?"

"What game is Anastasia playing this time?"

"It's got to be a trick."

"Look at her neck; she's still just a fledgling!"

"Then why does she feel so powerful?"

"Could it be…?"

"Surely not…

"Didn't the last time he tried to make a fledgling result in his enslavement?"

"Where's her master? Surely being so far from them at this young age would send her mad?"

Seras growled and squeezed her eyes shut, clenching her hands into fists at her sides. Their panicked, fascinated and bitter mumbling was all becoming too much for her. She felt her cheeks flush as they continued to talk about her. This was so humiliating! Why couldn't Anastasia have just kept her hidden, or better yet, not take her into a place full of old, powerful vampires?! She felt like a lamb to the slaughter.

" _Draculina…_ " some of the crowd began whispering to each other in realisation.

Seras' wide eyes glanced back to Anastasia, mentally pleading for her help. The woman in red simply stood there smirking, seemingly fighting the urge to laugh. Her red eyes were wild with glee. It filled Seras with no comfort at all. Was this all just one big joke? The young vampire really didn't understand this woman at all. One moment she was all serious when telling her what to do, and then next she was finding hilarity in the most dangerous situations.

"Anastasia, what is the meaning of this?!" what seemed to be one of the eldest vampires demanded.

Anastasia giggled. "Oh how silly of me, where are my manners? May I present to you all a genuine Draculina, Seras Victoria."

Some of the crowd stepped back in fear while others stepped forward in interest.

Seras remained as still as a statue, waiting with bated breath for whatever happened next. All eyes were on her, and the air fell into a heavy and oppressive silence. Blood flowed rapidly in her ears and her palms began to feel clammy. Her nails dug into her flesh and her fangs dug into the inside of her lips. If ever there was a time Seras wished the ground could swallow her up, it was now. What were they all thinking? Most likely they already viewed her as weak and pathetic. If the no-life King had banished her, then surely they would correctly assume what a disgrace she was.

"How is that possible?" a brunette woman turned to ask Anastasia. "The King is enslaved; how could he create a fledgling? Surely the Hellsing organisation would have destroyed her?"

"The King rarely creates fledglings, what's so special about this girl?" another woman sneered.

"I have a few ideas," one of the younger males – clearly still a fledgling – purred. Seras turned to face him only to squeak in shock and annoyance when she realised that his eyes were not on her face.

"Knock it off!" Seras yelled at him without thinking, crossing her arms over her chest self-consciously.

Much to Seras' satisfaction, the boy's master smacked the back of his head. He winced and quickly averted his eyes downward once again.

"I do apologise for my fledgling's behaviour, my lady," his master, a rather stern looking blonde haired woman, spoke. "He is still new to this life and has yet to learn proper respect."

Seras knew the feeling.

"Just what game are you playing, Lady Anastasia?" the silver haired vampire spoke up again, never taking his eyes off Seras, as if she was a snake that was about to strike at any moment.

"No games," Anastasia responded innocently. "I am simply here with my new student for training purposes."

Some of their eyes finally averted from the shiny new Draculina to narrow at Anastasia.

"Why are _you_ teaching her?" the same female who had sneered before demanded. "Shouldn't that be the King's responsibility?"

Seras already had a feeling that she wasn't going to like this woman. Their red eyes finally met properly for the first time, but Seras stood her ground and remained unflinching. It seemed that even the vampire world had queen bitches. She reminded Seras of one of the receptionists back at the police station when she was still human. The memories were faded slightly, but Seras could never forget a woman like that. She made Seras' life hell when it came to paperwork, and for some reason always spread rumours that she was sleeping around with every officer she worked with. The joke was on her though since Seras was still a virgin – the very reason she was in this mess in the first place.

The female vampire even looked similar to that receptionist. They could have been the same person if not for the fact that Seras could sense this vampire was a few hundred years her senior. She didn't feel _that_ particularly powerful though. Not compared to most people gathered there anyway. Despite her age, she appeared to choose to dress in a more modern fashion. Her silk emerald dress contrasted beautifully with her long ginger hair. Her pretty face, however, was ruined by what seemed to be a permanent scowl.

"That is royal business, Lady Eleanor," Anastasia replied more harshly, leading Seras to believe that she liked the woman no more than what she immediately did during her first impression.

Anastasia then turned to the rest of the crowd, switching back to her serious persona. "Seras is under my care and you will treat her with the respect as befitting of someone of her station. On pain of death, no one is to harm a single hair on her head. Any acts against her will be treason," she added darkly.

Some of the vampires exchanged weird looks.

Anastasia then smiled gleefully again. "Now, are we going to enjoy tonight's events, or what?" She then grabbed hold of Seras' wrist and pulled her towards the seating area once again. She led her towards the top corner, as far away from everyone else as possible.

Despite this, red eyes kept constantly drifting back to Seras, causing her to shift in her seat uncomfortably. No doubt the whole vampire world would definitely know of her existence now. She knew there would have had to have been rumours about her, especially given the amount of vampires she had managed to accidentally piss off, but now everything would be confirmed. The thought alone terrified her. What could this mean? Her stomach sank, already knowing the answer. She'd be hunted down without a doubt. Word would probably reach Hellsing. Maybe even her master would be sent to kill her.

Years ago, Seras had never really thought about her heritage. When working for Hellsing, it was meaningless. She was too busy trying to come to terms with what she had become, and then protecting Integra during her master's absence. It wasn't until she reached the continent that she finally had to face who and what exactly she was. She was not just any vampire, but a vampire created by the most powerful vampire to have ever existed: Dracula. The name alone was enough to send a shiver of fear up anybody's spine. His blood ran through her veins. His mind flowed into hers. His powers became hers. His very essence consumed her. It was these very facts that marked her out as different. Something to fear. Something to destroy. Like she was a creation of the devil himself.

Seras shook her head to dispel the intense thoughts.

"You did very well," Anastasia said as she leaned down to speak to her.

Seras blinked. "I didn't feel like I did. They all hate me and think I'm pathetic."

Anastasia chuckled. "Hate you? Probably. Think you're pathetic? I doubt that. You stood your ground, and even though I knew you were scared, you couldn't tell from the outside."

"I don't want them to hate me," Seras whispered, sinking further down.

"Them hating you is a good thing; it means they see you as a threat," the red vampire purred.

"How is that a good thing?"

"Because they fear you. You'll soon learn that fear is necessary to control vampires. It's the only language they listen to apart from blood. It's what keeps them in line. It's what keeps them from consuming every human on the planet, leaving us all to slowly starve to death. That's a main difference between true Nosferatu and these freaks that have been appearing lately. Freaks have no fear. They are arrogant fools and will consume all the blood in the world without hesitation. A true vampire exerts self-control and knows when to step back and bide its time," she explained.

Seras' eyes narrowed as she took in everything that Anastasia said to her.

"True vampires recognise the value of humans, even if they are beneath us in every possible way. As glorious as it is to consume and bathe in their blood like the monsters we are, we do not slaughter without good reason – usually hunger or defence," Anastasia continued. "Fear is what keeps this system in place. We can bring about the end of the world if we so choose, but where would be the fun and glory in that? It would only result in our own demise, and that is very stupid, wouldn't you agree?"

"I… think I understand." Seras frowned. "But what does this have to do with me?"

Anastasia laughed. "Because as royalty you instil that fear that keeps them in line and from doing whatever they desire at any given moment. It is your fate as a vampire. You automatically outrank them and they hate it. You, a mere fledgling who is barely halfway into her first century of this life, already outrank them and are far more powerful than they could ever hope to achieve. You can do things they can't, get away with things that they can't, and above all, you caught the attention of the King himself. _That,_ my dear, is no easy task."

"So they're… jealous?"

"Ravenously envious." Anastasia continued to laugh.

Seras buried her face in her hands, unable to take it all in. This was all so stupid. All she had ever wanted was a quiet life, and now here she was making enemies out of powerful creatures that she didn't even know. They had automatically placed her in a box which marked her as tainted, and as an evil creature that should not even be touched with a stick. She didn't want to control people through fear! Especially without even trying! She just wanted to mind her own business!

"None of this is anything to be ashamed of," Anastasia interrupted Seras' internal meltdown.

Seras was about to respond before she was interrupted by the loud cheers of the vampires around her. Their attention was captured by the two vampires entering the fighting arena, both of them smirking eagerly as they faced each other. Anastasia watched in anticipation while Seras began feeling sick. This was all becoming much too real for her. The reality of her situation was crashing down on her.

She watched as the two vampires bowed to each other before laughing as the fight began. It started off slow and simple, and some of the more eager members of the audience yelled their displeasure as the two fighters threw punches at each other. Some heckled, yelling for them to stop fighting like pathetic mortals, but this appeared to be the exact reaction the fighters were after. They both picked up the pace, grinning as they morphed into shadows, much to the satisfaction of the audience.

Seras gasped as demonic eyes filled the dark space the two figures once stood. Like beasts from hell, they snarled at each other before darted forward. Their forms collided in mid-air, tearing chunks out of each other. Gooey black flesh was sent flying in all directions. Eyeballs exploded from the pressure of sharp teeth, and it wasn't long before the ground beneath them was bathed in blood. This only served to excite the audience even more, the heavenly aroma of pure vampire blood rising into the air, causing ravenous shrieks to echo around the large cave system. It was all so animalistic.

The young draculina's red eyes remained glued to the fight, and she couldn't help but mentally place herself in the position of one of the fighters. As if she was studying for a test, Seras began wondering what she would do in their situation. Would she have managed to avoid that bite? That kick? How long would she manage to stand her ground before she was defeated by inexperience? These weren't even the most powerful vampires, yet they knew tricks that Seras could never have possibly imagined.

Anastasia spoke about how powerful Seras was supposed to be, but she just didn't see it. If she had been thrown into that arena right now, she wouldn't last a second. That didn't exactly exude power. It then truly hit Seras in that moment just how much she had to learn. She knew all the basic tricks and that was it. She had known enough to battle humans, ghouls and freaks, but nothing on this level. It was like skipping from level one to level one hundred.

Feeling dizzy, Seras stood up and quickly made her way out of the nearest doorway, able to finally breathe easier the further away she got from the exhilarated cheers of the other vampires. The more steps she took into isolation, the safer she also began to feel. She was in way over her head going into a place like that. She was nothing. She was worthless. Anastasia was just filling her head with rubbish.

Being the fledgling of the King didn't automatically make her above everyone else! That was all just a load of shit! She wasn't powerful or special by any means. After all, that was why her master had cast her aside in the first place. Was Anastasia just after his leftovers because she was bored and had nothing better to do? Was roping her coven along with her? No wonder Edmund seemed pissed off with the situation. No wonder Levi treated the whole thing like a joke. Then there was Eva. Was she in on all of this?

Tears burned in her eyes as Seras thought about the one person who she felt like was becoming her one and only friend in this life. Seras had been stupid to even think that she could trust someone. She needed to remember that she was in this for one purpose only: to train enough to be able to defend herself. After that, she would run away and start a new life alone. Far far far away from everything else. No more angry masters, no more supernatural organisations, no more crazy vampires, and no more of other people taking control of her life!

"My my, shouldn't a fledgling know better than to wander off alone?" a cruel sounding voice cackled from behind her.

Seras gasped and twisted around to see one of the males that she vaguely remembered seeing in the crowd. He had remained silent throughout the whole incident, just watching events unfold. Apart from his sinister smile, there was nothing remarkable about his features. He had the typical red eyes of a pure blood vampire, pale skin, and thick wavy brown hair that fell to his shoulders. He was dressed in a black dandy suit, making him look like a business man.

"Go away," Seras snapped, not in the mood for dealing with anyone else who decided to mess with her. She'd had enough of that to last a lifetime at this point.

"You can act the authoritarian figure as much as you like, girl, but we both know that it's all a front," he retorted with a roll of his eyes.

"Says who?" Seras replied sarcastically.

The male grinned. "I've heard stories about you, _Draculina_."

Seras cringed.

"A vampire who refused to drink blood for so long. Who refused to accept what she had become. Who lost an arm to a mere freak," he continued mocking her. "How is it that someone such as yourself deserves the status that you possess? A stupid little girl. An innocent English rose. Tell me, just why exactly did the great Dracula himself turn _you_ into one of our kind?"

"I don't know!" she snapped back.

"Perhaps you were another one of his stupid experiments," he replied for her, and Seras frowned in confusion. "That's the only possible explanation. Then when this one inevitably failed like the others, he tossed you aside like a used toy. We all know how fickle the King can be after all."

"So what?" Seras retorted. "I don't see how any of this is your business." His true words stung her like a thousand bees, but she did her best to hide it.

"It is my business when you could be what stands in the way between me and more power!"

"Excuse me?"

He sneered in a very familiar way as he looked her up and down. "My sister is ten times the vampire you are. Yet the King keeps chasing stupid little creatures such as yourself."

Seras sighed in annoyance. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" However, her protesting was quickly silenced by her neck being held in a steely grip. Her back was pushed against one of the cavern walls, the stone tearing through her white blouse as she was pressed against it. Her air supply was cut off as the male vampire leered down at her, looking at her as if she was nothing more than a disgusting cockroach. For fuck's sake, for once Seras would just like to make it through _one_ day without someone trying to kill her!

Her foul mood supressed her fear as she gazed into the red eyes of her attacker. She was too tired and angry to be afraid. She was sick of being bullied around by all of these other vampires who were inferior to her! Seras froze before frowning in confusion at her own thoughts.

"I'm going to take great pleasure in killing you," the male growled as he lowered his face closer to her neck. Seras stiffened, and the scar on her neck burned slightly at his close proximity.

Where was Anastasia? Hadn't she noticed that she was missing? She was the one who had insisted that no one harmed her and that she was under her care. But then again, Seras was sick of relying on everyone else. That was what she always did. Even if she died trying, Seras was going to stand on her own two feet for a change. This vampire was going to pay for his disrespect. He was going to pay for threatening her life.

"That's too bad," Seras found herself purring right back, much to the male's shock. "Because it's a pleasure you're never going to receive."

Without warning, Seras lunged forward and clamped her jaws around the other vampire's neck, causing him to let out a startled, pain-filled yell. He managed to pull himself free, but in the process, Seras had managed to tear off a large portion of his flesh. His warm blood filled her mouth, and Seras found herself sighing in ecstasy. The look of horror and confusion on his face was enough for her face to erupt into a grin. She let his torn flesh drop from her mouth before licking the blood from her lips. As soon as the life-sustaining liquid oozed down her throat, her body cried out for more. _Drink the traitor dry!_ Her inner monster practically howled.

The male vampire cupped his ripped neck with his hand, trying to stop himself from losing more blood. The sound of flesh knitting back together filled the cavern, and Seras decided to let him enjoy his moment of false security. She was going to be tearing into him so fast that his body wouldn't even have time to heal. She would string him up by his own entrails. Rip his heart out and shove it down his throat, making him choke on it as he turned to dust.

"But… but you're a fledgling!" the male yelled in horror and disgust, still cupping his bleeding neck as he interrupted Seras' fantasies. "Nothing but a discarded toy of the King!"

"Could a toy do this though?" Seras taunted before lunging forward at lightning speed to rip off one of his arms. He screamed in agony, falling to his knees as he glared up at her. Blood squirted from the stump like a grotesque fountain. Muscles and tendons hung down from where his arm used to be as his suit was further stained with crimson blood. The squelching sound of torn flesh was music to Seras' ears. Finally, she was showing them just what happened when she was pushed around. When she was pushed towards her breaking point.

She dropped his arm to the ground, watching in slight morbid fascination as the nerves in the limb continued to twitch like it had a mind of its own. Her third eye branched itself out, keeping its attention on her prey. Despite his age, his aura was nowhere near as strong as some of the other vampires. He was nothing but a pathetic piece of shit who arrogantly placed himself above everyone else – above _her!_

Her mind was wild with rage and she glared down at him, her red eyes glowing as shadows began swirling around her like an evil armour forged in the fires of hell itself. "Oh dear, it appears that you have lost your arm to a mere fledgling."

The poetic justice was not lost on the male vampire as he bared his teeth at her. "Fuck you, bitch! I'll tear you apart!"

Seras threw her head back and laughed, her fangs lengthening even more. "Please do! It'll only prolong the fight!"

As the male vampire threw himself forward to pounce on her, her shadows wrapped around his remaining arm and his legs. They held him in the air, sprawling him in front of her and leaving him at her mercy. He summoned his own shadows, but Seras' were far too powerful and dominating. She may not be experienced with a lot of things as a vampire, but if there was one power she was an expert at controlling, it was her shadows. All of those years without an arm had paid off. Her finely tuned shadows squeezed the vampire within their tendrils tighter. Drinking just a few drops of his pure blood had only made them even more powerful. What would draining his body completely do to her? Seras smirked with anticipation.

"And my name is not 'bitch'," Seras growled out as she stalked towards him. "It's not 'Draculina', or 'police girl', or 'kitten' or any other stupid name anyone wants give me. It's Seras Victoria!"

The male vampire's eyes could only widen in horror as Seras once again lunged for his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! I hope that you guys enjoyed this latest installment, and thank you so much for all of your wonderul comments so far! I always greatly appreciate feedback as it helps me a lot. I'll see you again soon, and until then, I wish you all a very happy new year!


	7. Inner Monster

The thick, juicy, irresistible taste of blood filled Seras' mouth as she clamped her teeth around the male vampire's throat. His body weakly thrashed against hers, but she barely noticed. She was too consumed by the delectable liquid flowing from his precious arteries and into her mouth. It warmed and soothed her throat as she swallowed, almost reminding her of a hot cup of tea she used to enjoy back when she had been human, especially when she had been nursing a sore throat. The warmth pooled into her stomach, sending pleasurable vibrations throughout her entire body.

 _More! More!_ She needed more!

Her thoughts had gone completely wild. Basic instinct took over, and all Seras could focus on was draining this pathetic vampire of all his blood for daring to cross her. Vampire blood was unlike anything she had ever tasted! It was like sweet nectar to a starved butterfly. A glass of water to a dehydrated human wandering a desert. A shower of rain to a dried and drought-ridden landscape. The ecstasy of it all almost had Seras weak at the knees, and she trembled as she continued to drink in greedy gulps, refusing to let her prey escape her.

She hadn't realised just how thirsty she had been. But she supposed that she had been in a coma for a few weeks and had only had one glass of blood before departing with Anastasia. Thinking of the red haired lady seemed to snap Seras out of her revere. Her red eyes snapped open at the very moment blood stopped flowing into her mouth, leaving her suckling at nothing but the empty flesh of the husk of what was once a vampire.

Seras cried out in alarm as she pushed the body away from her. The male vampire fell limply to the ground, his eyes glazed over and unblinking. Seras knew that this probably wasn't enough to fully kill him, but she had definitely left him near death. Blood no longer flowed from the stump where his arm once was. Dark flesh hung in its place, and a piece of broken bone stuck out, its edges jagged from the unclean breakage.

Waves of pleasure continued to wash over her, despite the horror that was now consuming her, pulling her deep under the waves and drowning her. She felt satisfied yet sick at the same time. Her mind whirled, making the cave around her spin and blur. Her dead heart twisted itself into knots, and it suddenly felt like the organ was made of lead as it dropped down to her stomach. Seras glanced down at her pale hands that were covered in smears of blood. The aroma was wafted towards her nose by a distance draft of air, and Seras nearly slipped back into her bloodlust. But she held it back with a pathetic whimper, clenching her hands into tight fists as she squeezed her eyes closed.

"Master…" Seras whimpered out before she could stop herself, causing her heart to contort even more painfully. She felt so alone. So monstrous. Oh god… What had she done?

The sound of excited clapping helped snap Seras out of her internal meltdown slightly, and the draculina twisted around to see Anastasia leaning against one of the pillars with a pleased smirk on her face. What? Seras blinked. Had she been there the whole time? Why hadn't she helped her? Why had she let her do this? Why was she clapping? This wasn't something to be proud of! Seras had completely lost control and had practically killed someone!

"Splendid work! I'm almost starting to believe that you need no training from us," the red haired vampire laughed out before walking towards the trembling draculina, her high heels clicking against the stone ground as she did so. "But still, your work is highly messy and you need better control of yourself," Anastasia then noted.

"I… I don't…" Seras spluttered. "Were you here the whole time?!"

Anastasia's grin widened. "Not all of it, but yes, I was here and saw most of it."

"Why didn't you help?!" Seras cried out. "Why didn't you do something?!"

Anastasia's grin faltered and her expression became more nonchalant. However, her arms did cross over her chest and her posture became stiffer, almost like a stern teacher showing their disapproval over a pupil's behaviour. It had Seras taking an automatic step back, especially since she was unable to understand just what Anastasia's game was. One moment Anastasia seemed keen to help her, and the next moment, she was letting Seras almost get killed.

"I wanted to see how you would handle things on your own. You were more than capable of ripping that treasonous vermin to shreds, and I was right," Anastasia boasted before she glared down at the still limp and unconscious body of the male vampire.

"Treasonous?" Seras squeaked.

"I warned them not to harm a hair on your head, and that such actions would be considered treason. A crime punishable by death." Her red eyes glowed dangerously.

"W-what?"

Anastasia sighed. "You need to start remembering your place, Seras Victoria. You _know_ it. You sensed it when he challenged you and tried to harm you. You are above him. You're something special. Something noble. Filth like him shouldn't even be looking you in the eye."

"I'm so confused…" Seras knew that Anastasia was right. She had heard that voice in her head; that raw instinct that told her that the male vampire had crossed a line with her, and had overstepped some innate and invisible boundary within vampire culture. It was partly what had made her so angry. But why? How? Anastasia kept telling her she was royalty in the vampire world, but that made such little sense to her. Just because she was Alucard's fledgling? How did all of this work?!

Anastasia chuckled at the draculina's thoughts. "Everything will be explained to you in your lessons. This is why all of our teachings are so important and why we will not simply just teach you how to fight and defend yourself. There are instincts within you that you need to understand. You're part of a whole new culture now; a different species. Human morals, customs, and culture… it's all meaningless to us."

Seras bowed her head as she fought back tears. She thought she had come to terms with being a vampire a long time ago, but now it seemed like she had only taken the first step into her new world. Seras all of a sudden felt very much like a human once again. A human child. Everything was so new and strange to her. She was Seras Victoria, but she was Seras Victoria the _what?_ Right now, she was neither human, nor vampire. Nor was she even really a fledgling since her master no longer wanted her. She was trapped in a limbo. A jigsaw piece that could not find where she belonged. She fought against all of the other pieces, trying to insert herself somewhere that made sense, but they all protested and pushed her away. Seras had always felt like she never had her own slot in the universe to call her own, even back when she was human. She never fit in anywhere.

Anastasia's sigh brought Seras back out of her thoughts. "I think perhaps you have had enough excitement for one day. Let us return home."

 _Home._ That word left a bitter taste in Seras' mouth. She had no home. It certainly wasn't with these strange people.

But before Seras could even consider the idea of bolting, Anastasia had grabbed hold of her wrist in a titanium hold, and after a few seconds of being pulled through the darkness once again, Seras found herself back in what was supposed to be her room in the castle. She turned, only to watch as Anastasia disappeared without another word, leaving the young vampire alone. Seras immediately collapsed onto her knees and stared glumly out of the balcony entrance and up at the night sky. The stars were now beginning to fade as the sky grew lighter. Orange rays of light were just barely visible over the thick forest of trees that blocked the horizon from few. Birds began singing, and she could sense everyone else within the castle settling down for the day.

Seras squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again, hoping that maybe all of this was just a bad dream. What would the others say when they found that male vampire? Would he recover? Guilt began to burn away at her, even though he had attacked and tried to kill her first. Back when she was a police officer, she was taught to always secure and restrain, and never to kill. In becoming a vampire, she had broken her pledge to serve and protect. Now she was the opposite. Now she was the villain who stalked the night.

If the Seras of half a century ago could see her now, what would she think? No doubt she would be repulsed. Why had she chosen to follow her master into the night? At the time, she hadn't truly understood what he was asking her, she just knew that she didn't want to die and the strange man in red was offering her the chance of escaping that. She had felt drawn to him. Something inside her had told her to go with him, while the more rational side of her brain was petrified. From the very beginning, Seras felt like her life was a roller coaster ride. She couldn't choose the path she went down, and she could never get off. She was tethered down to her seat, forced to endure the ride (A.K.A. whatever everybody else decided _for_ her).

The young vampire couldn't help but huff at that thought. Looking back, her master hadn't exactly given her a choice. He had just manipulated the situation like he always did. It was clear that he wouldn't have taken no for an answer and had just pretended to ask her out of, what? Curtesy? To give her the illusion it had been her choice? To taunt her? He never truly explained what he was asking of her. Her confirmation of her virginity had been interpreted as a green light rather than just her answering the strange and personal question that had suddenly been thrown at her out of nowhere. If she had known her master was going to shoot her, would she have said yes? What would he have done if she had said no?

Sighing to herself, Seras rose to her feet again, trying to push all of those 'what if?' scenarios to one side for now, at least. Her limbs continued to tremble slightly from everything that had happened. But at the same time, it felt like she had unlocked something. Like she had access to a part of her mind that she hadn't even realised was there. But what she saw was a dark void that she immediately had no interest in exploring. Seras mentally pulled steel doors down over it, pretending that it wasn't there.

"My lady?" a voice whispered as the door behind her creaked open.

Seras froze, knowing it was only Eva, but still not bringing herself to trust anyone right now. She refused to turn around and acknowledge the young girl. She just wanted to be left alone. All she had ever wanted was to be left alone. But Seras very much doubted there would be a chance of that happening.

"My lady? Are you alright?" Eva asked again, closing the door gently behind her.

"I'm fine," Seras responded flatly.

"Do I smell blood?" Eva sniffed the air.

Seras then gasped and glanced back down at her hands, having completely forgotten that the blood of the male vampire still coated her skin. It was beginning to dry against her pale skin, and some of it was even staining the nice white blouse that she had put on earlier. Panic consumed her again, and Seras jumped ten feet into the air before landing back down, staring at her hands in horror. The memory of the look in the male vampire's eye bore into her soul, and Seras could feel something beginning to pound against the steel door that covered the dark void, begging to be let out.

She'd attacked a vampire… She had attacked a full-blooded vampire…

She was doomed. She was dead. She was done for.

No doubt the other vampires there would be disgusted and repulsed by what she had done. No doubt she had just committed a major vampire social faux pas. Now she would never be able to win any of them over enough to live a peaceful existence. Would they hunt her down? Would they come here to attack her? Did Anastasia even realise this?

"My lady, what's the matter?" Seras jumped when she felt two warm hands on her shoulders. She immediately shrugged out of the other girl's hold, though a part of her desperately craved to just be held in someone's arms right now, knowing that she was about to fall apart.

Eva seemed to sense this and allowed Seras to shrug out of her hold. The young girl kept her distance, and Seras could feel her brown eyes watching her in alarm. She held her hands up as if to demonstrate that she was of no threat, and kept as still as a statue. Her blue dress reminded Seras of the morning light that was now beginning to seep through into the room. Realising this herself, Eva cautiously made her way towards the balcony and pulled the doors closed, sealing the room in darkness once more and protecting them from the rising sun.

"Seras," the young draculina finally spoke.

"Pardon?" Eva turned back towards her in confusion.

"Please…" Sera begged. "Please, just call me Seras."

"But…"

Seras sighed as she moved to sit down on the edge of her coffin. She clasped her hands together in an attempt to hide the blood smeared on the palms of her hands. There was no hiding the scent though, so Seras held her breath. But she knew that she would need to inhale at least a little bit of air so that she could speak. There seemed to be no escaping what she had done or what she was. It reminded her of her early days in Hellsing; her desperate attempts to cling onto her humanity. It felt like she was back there right now – always in denial. She had taken a giant leap backwards, it seemed.

"Nobody ever seems to call me by my name," Seras finally spoke again, explaining herself to the confused girl who remained standing by the balcony doors with her hands behind her back. "I just want… at least somebody… to call me by my first name…"

" _Seras…_ " Eva sounded her name out, her brown eyes becoming even warmer, reminding Seras of melted chocolate. "Seras. Very well then, Seras, if that is what you wish."

A smile finally tugged at the corner of Seras' mouth when hearing Eva finally agree to her wishes. It felt good to finally be properly acknowledged by somebody again. She hadn't even realised just how much it had been affecting her. It made her feel like she had no identity. That in certain moments, she was just whatever the person she was with wanted her to be. It was something that was always used to tease her, no matter how innocent and well-meaning the other person may be.

"Thank you," Seras whispered as her posture slumped slightly.

"It's such a unique name," Eva added. "I don't think I've ever met somebody with that name."

Seras shrugged. "My parents' idea of a joke, I suppose. They may as well have named me 'target' because that's what my name turned me into at school."

Eva giggled. "But why, though? It's such a beautiful name."

"It's not as nice as 'Eva.'"

Eva waved a hand dismissively. "My name is such a common name. I wish I had a more unique and pretty name like yours."

Seras laughed. "Trust me, you don't."

"But I wouldn't care what other people would think. It would be my name and it would be special to me because so few people have the privilege of having such a name."

Seras blinked, but smiled at Eva's kindness. In truth, Seras didn't really hate her name. She just hated that people teased her over it, spelt it wrong, misheard her, or just gave her a nickname since they couldn't be bothered to take the time to remember it. That, or people would just refer to her by her surname since that was much more common and classical.

"Are you hurt?" Eva finally asked as she eyed Seras' hands, knowing immediately that that was where the scent of blood was coming from. Seras squeezed her hands even tighter in response. She didn't want to see it. She wanted to pretend that it wasn't there. Pretend that this whole night had never happened. Why did Anastasia have to take her to such a place? Why couldn't she have just stayed in the castle and learnt everything here? She wanted nothing to do with other vampires. It always resulted in carnage.

"Let me see," Eva spoke again before coming closer, her pace becoming faster when Seras no longer flinched away from her presence. She stood before the draculina and grabbed hold of her hands, peeling Seras' fingers away from the palm of her hand so that she could get a better look. Seras closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, not wanting to look. Screaming and banging once again came from behind those sealed metal doors inside her mind. Within her own mind, Seras attempted to curl herself into a corner and cover her ears as the creature inside continued to scream and pound against the metal. It felt like the banging sounds were pushing two halves of her brain further and further apart, splitting her in two, with a dark abyss lying between the two halves.

Seras snapped her eyes back open, hoping to distract herself from whatever insanity was taking place within her mind. She instead locked her eyes on the silk of Eva's apron, watching as the almost transparent material shined in the candlelight. It looked way fancier than just a normal apron. Every vampire that Seras met had seemed glamorous, no matter what their 'rank' was considered to be. That gave Seras even more of a reason to feel like an outsider. She didn't necessarily consider herself beautiful, and she certainly had no eye for fashion.

"It's not my blood," Seras finally admitted as she pushed herself further back into the coffin so that her middle half sunk into the red silk while her knees bent over the edges and left her feet hanging limply in the air. The smell of the soil underneath comforted her slightly, and she pulled her hands away from Eva and wiped some of the blood onto her black jeans, however most of it had already dried itself onto her skin. She supposed that she could absorb it, but the thought of partaking in somebody else's essence again frightened her. She couldn't remember the last time she had consciously drunk blood. She shied away from it until it was practically forgotten.

"Then whose –"

"I got into a fight with another vampire," Seras sighed out, refusing to look Eva in the eye, terrified of what the smaller, frailer creature would think of her.

Much to Seras' astonishment, Eva merely chuckled. "I bet it was that Eleanor, wasn't it?"

"Huh?"

"She's always causing trouble. If you beat her up, or even killed her, I bet everybody else found it most entertaining."

Seras finally looked back up into Eva's eyes, only to see no hint of fear, but pure amusement.

"N-no… It wasn't Eleanor, but I think it was somebody who knew her and was close to her." Seras frowned as she tried to remember everything that the male vampire had said to her. Most of it had gone over her head so she hadn't bothered to log it into her memory. All Seras had cared about was getting out of that situation.

"Were they a man?" Eva asked.

Seras nodded.

"It was most likely her brother then. Nobody likes or respects him. Levi called him something once that is very unladylike and I will not be repeating." Eva giggled again. "I'm assuming that you put him in his place? I wish I had been there to see that. I've hated him ever since he disrespected my lady Anastasia."

Seras gasped. "Why? What did he do?"

Eva frowned. "I'd rather not say. It is not my secret to discuss. But Charles is a very ambitious and snobbish vampire, despite the little power he possesses. He's been trying to force his sister onto the King for centuries, and he's also always forcing himself onto powerful female vampires in the hopes of rising through the ranks."

An uncomfortable feeling stirred itself within Seras' stomach. "Force his sister onto the King?"

Eva looked like she was worried that she had said too much before she sighed and sat down on the ground outside of Seras' coffin. Her skirts bundled up around her legs, and she picked invisible pieces of fluff off the fabric. "Political marriage is not something that exists in the vampire world, but Charles clings onto that human way of thinking. He believes that trying to get his sister to marry the King would grant him more power and privileges, but it just doesn't work like that. Vampire marriages are rare."

Seras gasped. "Vampires can get married?"

"Yes, but probably not in the way you're imagining right now," Eva explained.

Thoughts began crossing Seras' mind of her arriving at a church in a white wedding dress, her faceless groom awaiting her further down in the aisles. However, the moment Seras entered the church, she burst into flames upon the holy grounds. The thought caused a small giggle to escape from between her lips. Eva raised an eyebrow, though Seras assumed she could most likely guess what the young vampire had been imagining.

Perhaps vampire weddings were more Satanic in style? The church within Seras' mind transformed into some sort of temple, and the draculina imagined herself in a red wedding dress instead with upside down crosses surrounding her, and the devil himself stood at the altar, ready to give them their vows. Again, Seras giggled at the thought.

"But Charles became even more enraged and offended when the King wouldn't even take Eleanor as one of his 'brides'," Eva continued explaining.

"Brides? I thought you said marriage was rare?"

Eva shook her head. "You misunderstand me. In the royal court, they're referred to as 'brides' though I suppose you would be more familiar with the term concubine, or mistress."

"Oh." Seras could feel her cheeks heating up.

It felt… _weird_ imagining her master be like that. In all the time that she had known him, he had never once showed any hint that he had… sexual desires. It got to a point where Seras figured that he just wasn't interested in that sort of thing. She had figured that, like most things, Bram Stoker had gotten it wrong in his novel. That it was just another way to further paint the vampire king in an evil light. Not that she had read the full novel anyway. Integra had bought it her for Christmas once as a joke, and Seras had fallen asleep halfway through the first chapter. But it was such a classic that Seras had always had a vague awareness of the plot.

But all that stuff about 'brides' like you saw in the movie versions? It was real? Seras wasn't sure what she was feeling in that moment, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. Seras had always found stuff like that dirty and wrong, and to think of her master having many different lovers… it made her lose respect for him. It was none of her business, she supposed, and she had no idea why this revelation upset her so much. Her master could do what he wanted. He was the king. As long as he wasn't raping or mistreating these women, then who was she to judge what he got up to in his spare time?

But that sour taste remained in the young vampire's mouth. It seemed the more she tried not to care, the more she did care. This was so stupid. Why was this bothering her? It hammered away at the back of her mind, refusing to go away until Seras fully acknowledged it. It was none of her damn business! She could feel her nails digging themselves into the palms of her hand, and this only served to make her angrier. She needed to stop getting so worked up over this. So what if her master had strings of affairs? So what if he bedded a different woman every day? _It was none of her fucking business!_

"Seras?"

"What?!" she snapped back before she could stop herself. When her red eyes met Eva's brown ones, she instantly relaxed again, concerned about what had suddenly come over her. She was probably just tired, and she rushed to apologise. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Eva smiled softly. "You looked completely lost in your own little world."

Seras shrugged, trying to ignore the mini meltdown she had nearly had over her master's sex life. Thinking about it like that made Seras feel even more pathetic and stupid. But she supposed maybe she was just concerned about the welfare of these women. After all, she knew how terrifying and menacing her master could be. But she wouldn't say he was… _abusive?_ Maybe to those who crossed him, but it seemed that as long as you stayed out of his way and didn't do anything threatening towards him, he left you be. In fact, he seemed as though he had a high degree of respect for a lot of people in his life. Before his betrayal, he and Walter had always been close. Of course there was also Integra who he appeared to have an unbreakable bond with. He'd never hurt any of them.

But then, the young vampire's thoughts couldn't help but travel back to that night…

She quickly shook her head. No! She _would not_ think about it!

"Are… are you okay?" Eva's voice rescued her from those memories.

"Yes!" Seras responded a little too quickly. "I was just lost in thought again, I guess."

Eva smiled again. "So what did you end up doing to him anyway?"

"Who?"

"Charles, of course.

Seras blinked. "Of course… ummm. It was all such a blur… I don't even know if I want to talk about it."

Eva looked worried. "Is something wrong?"

"I just don't want any trouble. I don't want to hurt anyone. When he cornered me like that… I don't know, but something happened and I just snapped. I've taken on enemies no problem in the past, but I've always pretty much been in control. This was different. I felt… feral. Like I had totally lost control of myself. I wasn't me anymore; the very thing I feared from the beginning," Seras tried her best to explain.

Eva placed a comforting hand on Seras' knee, and the draculina sighed at the calming and grounding effect that it had on her. At least Eva wasn't running scared like she worried she would do. Trust Seras to be the weird vampire that went through strange things and acted completely insane.

"It's perfectly normal," Eva reassured her. "You'll learn to get used to it."

"But I don't want to get used to it!" Seras exclaimed, throwing her arms out desperately. "I want it to go away! I want it to not happen at all! I don't want to lose myself!"

"And you won't." Eva remained calm, reaching over to grab one of Seras' hands. "It's a natural part of you. It _is_ you. It's just your most basic instincts coming to the surface, that's all. All vampires experience it, even weaker ones such as myself. Even humans can experience it sometimes, and being a vampire just unlocks that part of yourself more so that you can survive in such a dangerous supernatural world. I'm sure Anastasia, Levi and Edmund would be able to explain it far better than I ever could. But it's nothing to be afraid of. You just need to get to grips with it better, like a temper, if you will. It's an extra emotion and part of your brain that you must learn to embrace and control."

Seras' eyes remained wide with fear. "But it feels so… so… animalistic."

Eva giggled. "I suppose in a way, it is. You felt threatened, and your instincts took over, almost like a human fight or flight response. Instincts, thoughts, and emotions become a thousand times more powerful when transformed into a vampire. You're still not even a century old. It's normal that you're still trying to come to grips with it, but you will in time."

"How are you so calm about all of this?" Seras gasped.

Eva laughed again. "You forget that I am much older than you."

Seras furrowed her eyebrows as she remembered that fact. It was so easy to forget when looking at the small girl. She looked barely older than sixteen, and she was so small and innocent looking. It was hard to believe that such a non-threatening looking girl was actually a vampire. Other vampires seemed to naturally possess an aura that automatically had Seras feeling uneasy and on edge, but she didn't experience that with Eva. The brown haired vampire felt almost like a younger sister to her. She was the only person who had shown her true kindness from the very start.

"I guess that all makes sense…" Seras admitted as she allowed Eva's words to sink in more. However, it did little to reassure her. The idea still scared the shit out of her. All of these intense new feelings… how was she supposed to handle them? Where did she even begin?

"It should all start making more sense to you very soon. Lady Anastasia informed me that your lessons begin at dusk tomorrow," Eva announced as she pulled herself back up off the floor and straightened out her skirts.

"Don't I get a lie-in?" Seras half-joked.

Eva giggled. "Not if Lady Anastasia has her way, no."

Seras pouted before she could stop herself. That pout then turned into a yawn as her eyelids began to naturally grow heaving from sensing the sun rising in the sky. It was a miracle that Seras had managed to stay awake for this long, but she supposed it was because she had a lot going on in her mind. She still did, but the drowsiness was finally taking over. She found herself shifting so that she was lying much more comfortably within the coffin. The red silk stroked against her exposed skin and made her feel like she was floating on a soft cloud.

"Good day, Seras," she heard Eva whisper sweetly from just above her.

"Good day," Seras replied sleepily, barely paying attention as Eva brought the lid of the coffin over the top of her, completely sealing her away from the rest of the world.

Seras barely even registered her claustrophobia for once at sleeping in a strange coffin. She was too tired to care. Memories of the day swirled around in her head. Waking up in a strange place, meeting new vampires, Anastasia's words, her master's laughter, Eva's comforting advice, her master's piercing red irises, the fighting vampires, Charles attacking her, and much more. It was a never ending whirlpool that sucked her deep down into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonjour, and welcome back! Once again, I had hoped to get this chapter out a lot sooner, but as per usual, real life got in the way. Overtime at work equals one very tired Pixie. Plus, there are a few other Hellsing projects I'm working on that I wanted to update (feel free to check them out if you want). Working on multiple projects at once is probably a stupid idea, but I like to give myself some variety. But anyway, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the story so far! It makes me so happy that people are enjoying it! Sorry if this chapter feels a bit on the shorter and more boring side, since it is mainly pretty much filler until stuff kicks off again in the next chapter. I hope that you still enjoyed reading this chapter though, and pretty please let me know your thoughts! I crave your opinions like a vampire craves blood! I hope that you're all having a lovely week and are staying safe. I'll see you all again soon!

**Author's Note:**

> That's a wrap for the first chapter. Please feel free to leave kudos or a comment to let me know your thoughts as it always helps us writers out. Thank you so much for reading!


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